A Douglasdale resident who has tracked months of water and electricity outages said she remains frustrated by the lack of clarity around recurring service disruptions in the area.

Ward 115 councillor Mark van der Merwe said the issues are largely linked to ageing infrastructure and water problems outside his ward.

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The resident, Jirisha Naicker, has kept a detailed record of power and water outages in Douglasdale since May last year, logging fault reports and reference numbers each time services were interrupted.

She said the outages have affected her daily life and work, and she wants clearer answers on why the disruptions continue.

Responding to the concerns, Van de Merwe said he is aware of water supply challenges in nearby areas, particularly along Crawford Drive, which falls under Ward 106.

“There have been quite a few water outages now in Ward 106, which is councillor Chris Santana’s ward in Crawford Drive,” he said, adding that there have been ‘about five or six water outages’ in that area recently.

Van der Merwe said, however, that he does not believe there is a systemic problem with electricity supply in Douglasdale.

“I live on that grid, and we’ve had maybe four or five [power outages] in the last six months. So, power outages I’m not worried about,” he said.

According to Van der Merwe, water disruptions are often linked to ageing infrastructure, while power outages come from accidental damage during work in the area.

“All you need is for a gardener or somebody putting up an electric fence to drive an earthing spike through the cables, and that takes out a whole lot of residents,” he said.

He added that trenching work by entities such as Johannesburg Water or the Johannesburg Roads Agency can also occasionally damage power cables, resulting in outages that take several hours to resolve.

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He said Eskom, which supplies electricity to parts of the area, generally responds well when infrastructure needs to be replaced or upgraded.

“Our problem at the moment is Johannesburg Water,” Van der Merwe said, adding that multiple water bursts have been reported along Crawford Drive in recent weeks.

He estimated that there have been ‘about six or seven bursts’ in that area over the past month and a half.

Van der Merwe said water-related issues in Crawford Drive are being handled by Santana, and advised that further queries on those outages be directed to him.

Both Eskom and Johannesburg Water were contacted for comment on January 2. An update will be provided once the comments have been received.

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