Resident unhappy with metro’s service

A Tedstoneville resident is furious with the metro.

The woman, who does not want to be named, contacted the GCN after, she alleged, she experienced terrible service from the municipality.

“The water meter for my property has never ever been read in 41 years; what is this saying about Ekurhuleni?” she asked.

“The meter was about 1.5m underground and the hole was always full of rubbish and, as it is municipality property, I never cleaned it.

“In my ignorance, I decided to email Ekurhuleni and tell them about this.”

She added that two weeks later nothing had been done so she emailed them again.

“Then, all of a sudden, out of the blue, six black guys showed up and started digging around the hole, to get to the tap, which, having been in the ground for 41 years, disintegrated immediately,” she said.

“Water then started to pour out into my and my neighbour’s yard.

“Nobody told me that someone was going to come and look at the meter — they just showed up; six people to open one hole, have you ever?”

The woman told the GCN that the men arrived at about 2pm, dug the hole, broke the water meter and then had to go and get a pipe to fix it.

When she arrived home, at 4.30pm, the water was still running.

“Because the tap was broken underground, the water took sand with it, which flooded all the pipes into my property, so I had no water in any of the taps in my home, just sand, which dirtied and blocked all the pipes,” she said..

“These had to be taken out one by one, cleaned out and put back.

“This also destroyed the cistern of my toilet and now the water pours into the toilet continuously, as the ball valve is damaged.”

She also said the cold water tap on the hand basin has some kind of air bubble in it and, as you open the tap, the water spurts out and the pressure changes constantly, and then the water stops running.

“”The ball valve in the geyser had to be replaced, as well, as it was full of sand, and the geyser was not functioning, but spilling out into the yard, wasting water that I have to pay for.”

She added that the contractors and Chief engineer Francis Bacon had been made aware of the problems, but that nothing had been done to rectify the matter.

“Ekurhuleni has reached a new height of incompetence,” she said.

After the GCN sent the matter for comment, the resident told the GCN that she had been contacted on Thursday, and that inspectors were due to visit her house on Friday evening.

Sam Modiba, the spokesman for the metro, had this to say about the matter: “The water meter in question has been read on monthly basis and the recorded proof is available.

“The meter was replaced in September, and the new meter was also read in September 2013.

“The previous meter was installed, as per previous council standards, with a meter box lid level with the ground, and the meter approximately 20cm below the lid.

“This meter was replaced with the new above ground type on September 9, when a meter leak was reported at the address.

“The rusted galvanised connecting pipes at the meter were in such a poor condition that they collapsed and had to be replaced.

“To complete the work, additional personnel were called to the site.

“The consumer was seemingly unhappy about the disruption the repair work caused and became racially abusive towards employees.

“The leak at the meter was repaired and the team left.

“The consumer later complained about her cistern, wash basin and geyser – again in colourful racist remarks.

“A plumber was dispatched, only to be refused access because he was black.

“The consumer specifically requested a white plumber, as she regarded anyone else as incompetent.

“She also did this in writing, and proof thereof is available.

“This request was also escalated to the chief engineer, Francis Bacon, on September 27.

“He, in turn, contacted the consumer telephonically, to address her problems.

“Due to the complainant’s persistence with regard to the ethnic group which the metro’s plumber must belong to, the metro could not further investigate her claims with regard to problems with her cistern and the basin.

“The complaints administrator from the contractor has made an appointment with the consumer to further try and resolve the access problem, to investigate her claims.

“As can be seen, the metro has bent over backwards to assist this consumer.”