Residents and businesses in Nelson Mandela Bay, it is time to sit up and take notice. Our city is running on borrowed time, and this could soon become a full-blown crisis if not urgently dealt with.
We are, of course, referring to the resignation of acting electricity and energy director Tholi Biyela, which has left the metro critically exposed.
Biyela, whose last day working for the municipality is today, is the city’s only professional engineer with a critical risk certification from the Engineering Council of SA.
This qualification is needed to supervise complex technical work and authorise life-or-death repairs to the grid. Without such expertise, the metro is gambling with its electricity supply.
It should come as no surprise to the municipality though as the auditor-general has been warning for six years that the Bay’s failure to fill key engineering posts — from directors of projects and distribution to heads of departments — was storing up disaster.
The municipality now has only one professional engineer, while the entire infrastructure and engineering portfolio, which covers water, sanitation and roads, has just two.
That this is a problem is an understatement, especially if one considers the frequent power outages that residents have to contend with.
Corrosion on the Chelsea substation towers, already causing widespread outages from Summerstrand to Lovemore Park, demands urgent rerouting and replacement.
The work can be completed in six months, but only under the supervision of qualified engineers.
The municipality insists it can rely on consultants, but this is not a substitute for in-house expertise.
There must be an official that can cross-check the consultants’ work and also look after the interests of the residents and businesses of the city.
The council must act with urgency to fill the vacancy left by Biyela.
It must fill the vacant engineer posts with properly registered professionals who can carry the legal and technical responsibility for our infrastructure.
If the metro continues to hollow out its engineering capacity, it risks total infrastructure collapse.
The Herald
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