Poor service delivery by the Tshwane Council in the Laudium/Erasmia area has once more come to the forefront, with residents saying they are just about fed-up even of complaining, as no one in the Council seems to care.
Complaints from leaking water pipes, to non functional street lights, to blocked drains to rubbish dumped all over the area to non functional traffic lights, are just some of the common complaints that residents have been voicing for a long time, without any response from the Municipality. In one of the latest complaints received by the Laudium Sun from residents, grievances have yet again been raised about a leaking pipe in the Erasmia area. Residents residing in the vicinity of corner Steynberg and Lenchen Streets say that they have been urging the Council to repair a water pipe which has been leaking, resulting in the wastage of water for the past five days. The residents added that the water which is running down their streets is also causing a nuisance as the area has become muddy and there is an unpleasant odour in the area.
James Mtirara who works at the nearby Affinity Events in Erasmia told the Laudium Sun, “We have a problem of water in Laudium and Erasmia. When we see the water that is being wasted on the streets we feel frustrated and sad because it goes on for days, whilst so many people are struggling for water. We have been calling the Council to repair this leaking pipe which is wasting water. It is now about 5 days since the pipe has been leaking, but the Council has still not attended to it. When we see good water being wasted like this we feel very sad. Every time there is an issue which the Council needs to attend to urgently, we have to wait for days before they come out. It is vey wrong what they are doing. I am not sure what should we do in order to receive good service from the Council? The ratepayers money is going down the drain. The whole country is experiencing a water crisis but the Tshwane Council is dragging its feet to fix this problem,” James said.
Rubinah Tayob from Affinity Events, told the Laudium Sun, “This water leak has been going on for days. It is sad to see clean water being wasted like this in our area. This water that is being wasted was supposed to be for the benefit of the community, now we as ratepayers will have to pay for the wasted water which is coming out from our reservoir. The Council is always preaching that people
should save water and in fact they have imposed level 1 restrictions whereby gardens and swimming pools can only be hosed or filled at certain times, but they are doing the opposite. We have been calling the Council to fix this leaking pipe for a while now but they are just ignoring our calls. When we see water being wasted like this, we feel frustrated and angry. To think that so many liters of clean water has been flowing down the street, while people in other areas have no water and are drinking water from the rivers. Imagine the whole week this water has been flowing in the
street and besides the wastage of water, the money that has been lost all because of a broken pipe, which requires a few hours to fix.”
*Attempts to get a comment from the Council proved fruitless at the time of going to the press. Earlier this month the Laudium Sun also reported about residents residing on Marble Street and 19th Avenue urging the Council to repair a water leakage which is emanating from a blocked sewage at the Laudium Soccer Stadium, which has been wasting water for about two years.
