A better call centre means nothing if nothing is done after having logged your complaint.
This is the opinion of an Esther Park resident who had been trying since May 12 to get a stolen manhole cover replaced.
The potential dangerous situation on a pavement on Rooigom Street had been reported five times, on May 12 and 22, June 6, 13 and 23, to no avail.
Recently, a pipe burst next to the open hole and although the municipality fixed the pipe and had to work right next to it, nothing was done about it.
“I’d like to know why it’s so difficult for the municipality to prevent simple hazards from turning into a potentially deadly one, especially over such a long period of time,” another concerned resident said.
“It will probably take a child falling down the hole resulting in injury or death and a court case before the municipality wakes up. The municipality now has a call centre that seems to be more efficient and available to residents but this means nothing when those who report incidents are in effect just having a worthless chat to the person on the other end of the telephone.”
Feeling desperate, the matter was reported to Kempton Express on July 11. We referred it to the metro on July 15.
As the metro did not meet its deadline for comment on July 21, Express contacted the complainant about the matter. According to him the manhole was replaced on July 21.
“I suppose it’s possible they finally put a new one in because you contacted them. It has taken 10 weeks from the first telephonic complaint for them to sort it out,” he said.
A metro spokesman said: “Following the increasing vandalism of steel components on the council’s infrastructure, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is currently experiencing a high number of missing covers that require replacement.”
