Ekurhuleni only has 44% of its legally required fire stations

7 October 2021

Ekurhuleni is a tinder box ready to burn as the municipality has failed to comply with the national minimum standards in terms of how many fire stations it should have for the population size of the municipality.

According to the South African National Standard (10090) Community Protection against Fire Code of Practise, Ekurhuleni is legally required to have 65 fire stations to keep residents safe, however the municipality only has 29 stations in operation.

According to a written reply in Council posed by the current DA Shadow MMC for Community Safety, Clr. Jaco Terblanche, the municipality also does not comply with the minimum response times.

The reply can be accessed here.

This comes as no surprise as the fire department currently has 75 funded vacancies for firefighters.

While the municipality is currently in the process of building two more fire stations, both are running far behind schedule and the cost of these has mushroomed beyond their respective budgets.

When these two fire stations are eventually completed, the municipality will still lag far behind the legally mandated minimum standard.

It is unacceptable that this ANC-led municipality has put the lives of its 3.9 million residents at risk.

Our people deserve to live in a municipality that prioritises their safety and makes sure that there is investment on crucial infrastructure projects.

Residents of Ekurhuleni cannot be placed in harm’s way because of the incompetence of Mayor Mzwandile Masina.

Under a DA-led administration, the finances of this municipality will be managed efficiently to ensure that capital expenditure projects run on time and that cost over-runs do not happen. We will also ensure that all funded vacancies are filled as a matter of urgency.

Issued by Refiloe Nt’sekhe, DA Ekurhuleni Mayoral Candidate, 7 October 2021