The level of incompetence and irresponsibility of the ANC-led Tshwane Council certainly rose to a new high this week, when residents living in the Laudium/Erasmia area, learnt with great shock, that the community based Laudium Disaster Management (LDM) was ordered to stop its much needed fire fighting services. This follows a communique sent out by the Tshwane Council to the LDM and others, headed, ‘City of Tshwane moves to curb illegal operations by private fire services,’ clearly citing the LDM as a private body and operating illegally. The notice further read, “The City of Tshwane has raised alarm over the rising number of illegal private fire services operating within its jurisdiction and has filed a court application to enforce compliance with applicable legislation. These entities are functioning without legal authority, regulatory approval, or formal agreements with the Municipality, in direct contravention of national and local legislation governing emergency services. This development presents serious safety, legal, and operational concerns that the City cannot ignore,” adding, “These illegal operations present numerous challenges. They interfere with the City’s command and control structures during emergency incidents, compromise incident scene management, and operate without public accountability. Moreover, they draw water from Municipal fire hydrants without authorisation, contributing to unaccounted water losses and violating city bylaws.” At first the LDM, as an NPO, gave notice to residents that it had no option but to suspend its fire fighting services with immediate effect in view of the Council’s notice. However, the LDM has since received advice from their attorney that the notice from the Council was not effective, as the Council needed to get a ‘court order’ to cancel such service of the LDM. This situation has clearly thrown volunteers of the LDM into a dilemma as, should they continue to provide fire fighting services to the community, there could be legal consequences should any of the volunteers or other persons be injured or even if any property is damaged due to any action or non-action of the LDM members, during their attempt to extinguish a fire. Exco member of the newly formed Concerned Community Web: www.nismedia.co.za File photo: Volunteers of the Laudium Disaster Management (LDM) fire-fighting group. Forum (CCF), Moosa Hassim, told the Laudium Sun, “While we are in agreement that it is imperative that regulatory approval should be attained by the LDM in order to carry out their activities, it is most regrettable that the Tshwane Council saw the need to unilaterally and immediately suspend such vital service provided free to the community by the LDM for the past 10 years. The Council should have acted in a responsible manner, by at least calling the parties involved, to see how best to continue this important service to the community, without any disruptions and assisting the LDM in ensuring that all the necessary safety measures are in place.”
Chairperson of the LDM and member of the Ward 61 Exco Committee, Ibraheem Dockrat, told the Laudium Sun, “The sudden suspension letter received from the Tshwane Council, stopping fire fighting services has come as a shock to us. The LDM has been in existence for over 10 years, with about 100 registered volunteers and approximately 40 active volunteers. We have three members who are qualified in Hazardous Materials Operational Level and Fire Fighter 2. Approximately 30 additional volunteers were trained by the City of Tshwane in basic fire-fighting. We attend to about 25 to 35 fires a year, which comprise houses, vehicles and bushvelds, which pose an immediate danger to property or life. All rescue scenes require the City of Tshwane Fire Department. Hence, over the years we have interacted closely, at various scenes and cultivated a positive relationship with many of the Council owned fire stations. They have contributed to empowering and providing guidance to us regarding what needs to be done at a scene. Each scene demands a different approach, resources, skills and services, along with what LDM can provide and what our resources allow. We bridge the gap as much as permitted between emergency services and communities.”
The Laudium Sun trusts that the impasse between the Tshwane Council (or the MEC of CoGTA) and Laudium Disaster Management will be resolved amicably and to the benefit of the community, which depends to a great degree on the services provided by LDM and Tshwane Emergency Services as well.