Residents in the Laudium and Erasmia area are boiling, not only because taps in the area have dried up over these past two days and also the week before, but also because they believe that officials from the Tshwane Council have hoodwinked them
into believing that the Council was attending to the water problems in the area.
This follows top officials and politicians from the Council attending an ’emergency’ meeting last Tuesday (Oct 29) at the Laudium
Reservoir, to address the water crisis in the Laudium area. Those who attended the meeting included Tshwane MMC of UtilitiesFrans Boshielo, MMC of Shared Services, Ward Councillor Naeem Patel, PR Cllr Prajay Ramjee and Councillors from Atteridegville. Also in attendance were the Group Head of Water and Sanitation, the Director of Bulk Water and officials from various Departments of the City of Tshwane.
At the meeting, the politicians undertook to address the issue of the continuous abrupt water cuts and also pledged to give an official statement to the community on the way forward in resolving the issue. However, to this day, no official statement has been
released by the Council concerning the outcome of the ’emergency’ meeting at the Reservoir.
Ongoing water cuts
It seems that the officials have no solution to the ongoing water crisis in the Laudium area as the problem continues, with these past two days again seeing taps run dry. Many residents and businesses especially food outlets have been left frustrated and are fuming. The food outlets claim that without water for the past two days, it has been difficult to sustain their businesses.
The manager of Bismillah Restaurant, Ahmed Roni, told the Laudium Sun, “Without water our business can’t survive, which could lead to closing the business. For the past two days we did not have water and had to buy water to cook food for our customers and to wash dishes. This has been very costly for us. The Council does not seem to be doing anything to alleviate this problem, which we face almost every week in Laudium, with either one day or two days without water. We are frustrated, more so as we were not informed timeously by the Council that there would be no water in our taps, for two days and maybe even longer. Last week we read that the big Council chiefs came to the Laudium Reservoir to sort out the water problems, but now for two days we don’t have water. Why can’t they be honest with us and tell us what is the real issue. This is very frustrating, as without water, life is difficult.”
Manager of Romans Pizza in the Laudium CBD, Loina Serumula, told the Laudium Sun, “The problem with the ongoing water crisis in Laudium is that as a food business, we have to have water or else close. We are now buying bottles of water to sustain our business, which is a huge loss for the company. We had a problem of electricity in the past now we are faced with the issue of ongoing water crisis in Laudium. This is not good for our business.”
Armani Hossain from Al – Mani Butchery and Spices said, “Life without water is difficult. We are also affected as we cannot run our business without water. The new Mayor has to sort out this water problem so that life can go back to normal.”
Resident Tasneem Dawood (42) of Jewel Street told the Laudium Sun, “For the past two weeks we have been having water cuts and it’s very difficult, because we have children who have to get up early and need water for bathing and for eating before going to school.”
Sharnita Lutchman (45) of Emerald Street said, “We are now buying bottles of water which is costly or relying on fire hydrant water, which is frustrating as the water from the hydrant has to be boiled. We hope that the Council can resolve this constant water shortage in our area once and for all, as a matter of urgency.”
