FOUR months after the roof of a substation in Allen Grove had been damaged during a storm, the metro had done nothing to repair it.
Residents took it upon themselves to cover the damaged roof to prevent any further problems at the mini-substation on Peperboom Street.
The roof was damaged when a tree fell on it during a storm on November 29. A resident living adjacent to the station filed a service request to Ekurhuleni the next morning.
The resident received a reply stating that the City of Ekurhuleni had acknowledged the service request, along with a reference number. The large tree was removed, not by Ekurhuleni but by a tree felling service for which a resident paid.
That same day the community of the Allen Grove enclosure stepped in with a temporary solution to guard the substation and its sensitive components from the elements. An old pool cover was used to patch the gaping hole in the roof.
Early in January two engineers from Ekurhuleni arrived on site to assess the damage, to which they responded with the suggestion of replacing the old electricity sub with a newer, modernised minisub.
It is now the end of March and nothing has yet been done by Ekurhuleni. Despite complaints and requests the temporary repair still persists.
As one resident put it: “The municipality’s lack of action is disturbing, as numerous similar cases of negligence have been reported to public infrastructure in the past, and continue to surface, dotting the residential landscape of Kempton Park with a lot of unfinished business.”
The metro failed to comment on the issue.
