Despite the recent water crisis that residents in Ward 61 experienced, where taps dried up for 6 days, officials at the ANC/ActionSA led Council are still not giving the necessary attention to ensure that such a situation does not occur again.
This follows various ANC politicians from the Council ‘preaching’ to residents to save water and importantly to report any water leaks to the Council so that the leaks could be attended to ‘urgently’. However, when residents do report the water leaks, the council drags its feet in fixing the problem. Recently the Water Minister (ANC) blamed the ANC led Gauteng Government for the water crisis in Gauteng, insisting that there was no drought in the area, but the failure to maintain infrastructure such as ageing, leaking water pipes, was one of the main causes of the problem. This follows the Laudium Sun being inundated with calls from residents living in the area, complaining that the Council was not attending to water leaks, despite the residents making numerous calls to the Council. Those who complained about the water leaks included residents living in Erasmia.
Yasmin Ayob (33) of Senorita Street in Erasmia told the Laudium Sun, “There is a fire hydrant on our street from which water has been leaking for days now. It seems that someone left it open after using it for water. We have reported this matter to the Council hoping that they would close this fire hydrant and stop the wastage of water, but there has been no response from them. The area has not had water for days, yet water is being wasted like this. It is painful to see the wastage of water from the fire hydrant, while Council is doing nothing to solve this problem. Several residents have been complaining about the fire hydrant tap left open, but the Council is doing nothing to close this water tap of the fire hydrant.” Joey Naidoo (28) of Bodenstein Street told the Laudium Sun, “I noticed water gushing from the paving on my outside driveway since Sunday morning and immediately reported the matter to the Council, but I am still waiting for their response. This is not the first time I am having the same problem. The last time it was attended to in March this year as well as last year, when the Council guys dug holes to fix the problem and then did not even bother to close up the hole leaving us as residents to fix the damages to our paving in the driveways.”
Resident Mohamed Dawood (50) of Jan Street, Erasmia, said he has reported the ongoing leak on his driveway via the ETshwane portal and this is not the first time he is experiencing the same problem, adding, “We are fed up as residents watching clean water flowing from our street. The Council is not taking these water leakages seriously. I have reported this water leakage flowing from outside my gate, many times to the Council, but they take their own time to come and solve this problem. This current leak has been going on for days now. We don’t know what else we can do to receive proper service delivery in our area. Even if we hire plumbers to fix this water leak, the Council would not repay us the money we have spent to repair the leaking pipes by my gate. Every day I have to watch clean water flowing into my street and nothing is being done to solve this problem. We have expressed concern as the City of Tshwane advises residents that they are not obliged to undertake repairs outside driveways and paving where a water pipe is compromised.
What is frustrating is that the Council is responsible for repairing any water or drain pipe situated outside a private property, but they are failing in these duties. On the one side we are told by the politicians from the Tshwane Council that we should report any water leak immediately to the Council, but when we do, the council drags its feet to repair same, causing in the meanwhile so much clean water to be wasted,” a clearly frustrated Mohamed concluded.
