Pray the News
Business chamber hydrant project fired up
The Herald – 7 September 2026
Abstract
“Positivity is spreading across the metro as the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s project to restore fire hydrants kicks into gear. The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Fire Hydrant Project is using a team of specially trained young technicians to drive the work which is aimed at sparking renewed readiness and resilience. Denise van Huyssteen, the chamber’s CEO, said on Friday the project was a crucial one on multiple levels.
“Our 16,000 fire hydrants are an essential part of the metro’s emergency-response infrastructure.
“When a fire occurs, firefighters need to be able to locate a hydrant quickly, access it and establish whether sufficient water pressure and flow are available to support firefighting operations.
“So rather than waiting for infrastructure vulnerabilities to contribute to a major incident, the objective is to identify and address those vulnerabilities proactively.
“The project combines preventative maintenance, digital mapping, skills development and youth employment to create a more sustainable approach to managing this critical infrastructure.”
Van Huyssteen said fire hydrants were generally positioned along roads and within built-up areas so fire crews could connect equipment to the municipal water network when responding to a blaze.
A hydrant typically consisted of an underground connection to the water network, a visible body and outlet points that allowed firefighters to connect hoses and draw water.
More Background
A Master MOU between the Chamber and Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality allows accredited Chamber members and the Chamber itself to help repair or secure relevant municipal infrastructure. It is explicitly described as not making the Chamber an implementing agent of the municipality or a formal public-private partnership, but rather a way for business to complement efforts “in a time of crisis” and help rebuild an enabling environment. Former mayor Retief Odendaal has publicly credited this arrangement with creating a “parallel structure” that protected key assets during instability and prevented worse outcomes. The Chamber also runs a Helpdesk as a rapid-response mechanism for members that escalates issues and tracks resolutions, alongside geographic clusters and technical task teams.
The Chamber organises businesses into 11 geographic clusters, industrial, commercial, and tourism nodes that collaborate on shared local problems—often across competitor lines—and coordinate with municipal officials. Specialised technical task teams provide expertise, data, and advocacy. Examples of “Adopt-a-Programme” and related efforts include:
Water infrastructure and conservation: “Adopt a Leak” mobilized business funding and expertise to repair thousands of leaks in identified lower-income areas. Reported savings of 1.6–1.7 million liters per day were achieved. The program was later discontinued due to funding limits and some union resistance in certain areas. “Adopt a School” was relaunched multiple times, including amid recent water crises, and has seen businesses fix leaks and install rainwater harvesting at dozens of schools and clinics. Broader advocacy highlights high unaccounted-for water losses, often cited at 50–60%, due to aging pipes, maintenance backlogs, and management issues, and supports pressure management and other measures.
Electricity and critical assets: “Adopt a Sub-Station” involves businesses extending security to protect against cable theft and vandalism. This has reduced outages in industrial areas; pump-station efficiency was reported to have improved significantly through such protection and collaboration. Clusters have also supported reinstatement of street/traffic lights and related fixes.
Roads, cleanliness, safety, and other basics: Clusters have repainted road markings, cleared litter/illegal dumping, installed CCTV, coordinated monitoring, and addressed local infrastructure decay. There is advocacy and some direct support around stormwater drains, alien vegetation clearing, and by-law enforcement gaps.
Disaster risk and emergency readiness: A Disaster Management Task Team and Risk Management Desk map risks like flooding, droughts, fires, prioritise gaps, and drive practical actions. The fire hydrant project was launched in July, and it is funded by the non-profit Supporting Fire Services for year one, targeting 2,000 of the metro’s 16,000 hydrants. This addresses proactive maintenance of emergency infrastructure that is otherwise vulnerable to damage, fading markers, or access issues. Related work includes alien vegetation mapping/clearing for fire risk and assessing local fire response capacity.
Prayer Guidelines
Here are five prayer requests focused on the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber and its geographic clusters:
- For clear identification of shared challenges
Father, grant the members of the Business Chamber wisdom and unity to recognise and clearly identify the collective problems facing their clusters—whether infrastructure failures, security risks, service delivery gaps or other shared burdens—so that nothing critical is overlooked and every issue is brought into the light for action.
- For generous pooling of resources
Lord, stir the hearts of Chamber members to freely pool their energy, time, ideas and financial resources. Break down any barriers of competition or isolation, and help them combine what each one has so that together they become stronger than any individual effort.
- For creative and practical solutions
Holy Spirit, inspire the clusters with innovative, workable solutions to the problems they face. Guide their discussions and planning so that they not only identify what needs to be done but also find effective, sustainable ways to implement those solutions for the good of the entire community.
- For successful action that restores and strengthens
God of restoration, empower the Business Chamber clusters to move beyond talk into decisive action. Bless every project, partnership and initiative so that the collective problems are truly fixed—hydrants restored, infrastructure protected, services improved—and the areas they serve become more resilient and prosperous.
- For united influence and effective advocacy
Almighty God, build genuine collective clout among the Chamber members. Unite their voices so that when they lobby municipality, government and other stakeholders on important issues, their combined strength carries weight, opens doors, and brings about lasting positive change for Nelson Mandela Bay.
Sample Prayer
Heavenly Father,
We lift up the members of the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber and their geographic clusters. Grant them wisdom to clearly identify the collective problems they face. Stir their hearts to freely pool their energy, time, ideas and resources. Inspire them with practical solutions and give them the courage and unity to act on those solutions, so that the challenges in their clusters may be fixed. Build among them a strong collective voice that carries real influence as they lobby for the good of our city.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Compiled by GAP Ministries
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