A two-day intergovernmental visit to Port Alfred led by the Office of the Premier (OTP) began with a positive example of co-operative governance in action. Young entrepreneur Robyn May, owner of Ndlambe Tanks, hosted the 30-strong delegation from various provincial departments in her Hallier Street, Port Alfred, factory.
Robyn May enterprises was the successful recipient of a R900 000 grant from the Isiqalo Youth Fund – a programme of the Eastern Cape government that provides financial and training and mentoring support to youth-owned businesses.
May had been manufacturing 2 500-litre rainwater tanks. Local and youth-owned, Ndlambe Tanks seemd to have everything going for them when it came to tendering to supply water tanks for the Department of Human Settlements upgrading of informal settlements programme.
Except that there was little call anymore for 2 500-litre tanks. What most programmes (and indeed individual households) were looking for were 5000-litre tanks.
Xalisa Qaqamba, from the OTP, was among those responsible for assisting May with her application for funding from Isiqalo for the mould to make the bigger tanks.
“As the office of the Premier, we don’t hand over cash,” Qaqamba said. “We only hand over materials and equipment.”
But handing over the 5000-litre mould had required a very big truck and a crane.
“So handing over this equipment actually cost us R1.4 million in the end,” she said.
Earlier, May had spoken of her journey. Registered at nelson Mandla University to study Public Relations, she’sd run out of funds and couldn’t complete her studies.
Undeterred, she determined she would work for herself and started Robyn May Enterprises. Covid and the lockdown threw her a curve ball, but she’d persisted and it was sheer determination that had seen her reach this point.
Officials and representatives from provincial, district and local government pledged their support for the enterprise within the framework of supply chain regulations.
Capacity
Visits to the Nemato Water Filtration Plant opposite Nomzamo Secondary School and the sewage pump station in Wharf Street were next on the itinerary.
The 2.3ML Nemato reverse osmosis plant operates on an ultrafiltration system. Drawing from Sarel Hayward Dam, it serves Nemato, Thornhill and surrounding areas. Vithi-Masiza explained that this plant was critical to the town’s supply, enabling the municipality to meet the 6.3ML daily demand.
However, demand during the peak season is as high as 8.3ML a day. It is partly to meet this demand that the massive ‘Quick Wins’ sewerage infrastructure project is under way. The goal is to make additional water available through the town’s long-dormant 3ML wastewater reclamation plant.
Next on the itinerary was the recently completed Wharf Street sewage pump station. The destination for multiple gravity sewer lines from different parts of the town, the pump station eliminates the repeated vandalism of the former multiple pump stations that rendered the system dysfunctional.
Vithi-Masiza emphasised that in addition to the massive new pump station’s operation capacity, there was also emergency backup in the form of a 1.5ML tank. The Department of Water and Sanitation’s Martin Labuschagne, who oversaw the project, said constructing the 7-metre-deep sewage holding dam close to the tidal Kowie River had been a huge challenge.
Ndlambe Municipality apologized for a substantial sewage spill in the CBD earlier this week. The sewage pump station had been temporarily switched off to allow for a new pipeline to be safely connected.
“Unfortunately the connection work took longer than initially anticipated, which resulted in [sewage] flows backing up into parts of the Port Alfred Central Business District,” the notice signed by municipal manager Rolly Dumezweni explained.
Apologising to residents and businesses, Ndlambe said it was on site doing clean-up operations.
Day two was an intergovernmental conference hosted at the Royal St Andrews Hotel. Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane was in attendance at Friday’s intergovernmental forum.
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, December 4, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays
