Clr Jaco Terblanche from Ward 16 has again highlighted the issues with water in Kempton Park.
Numerous residents complained to the Express following the recent and also extended water shutdown, which was to conduct repairs of the water reticulation network in Kempton Park.
Added to this, Terblanche said there were 198 burst water pipes during December 2019.
“This gives us, on average, six water pipe bursts per day. This means that residents are without water for five to six hours a day.
ALSO READ:
Water shutdown: Residents still without water
“The reality continues due to a new burst in the recently repaired pipe. The fact the department repairs the pipe at 11pm in the evening and it bursts again at 4am the next morning highlights the need for better infrastructure.”
Terblanche reiterated that the CBD up to the Glen Marais area needs urgent attention.
“The water issues of December were due to the direct feed to the area, where the reservoir was by-passed to alleviate a leak on the road surface, which was seen as dangerous to road-users.
“The metro reverted back to reservoir supply to avoid high pressures.
“This leak was only fixed this past weekend. This repair should have been done during January 2020.”
Glen Marikana
Terblanche also criticised City of Ekurhuleni for its management of the move of Glen Marikana informal settlement in Dann Road to Putfontein.
Lockdown regulations and general pandemic consequences brought the move to a halt, but the community is wondering when the move will resume.
“During a meeting an agreement was reached that the Human Settlement Department will move all occupants to Putfontein by March 31 this year and the owner can begin the development of his land by April 1,” said Terblanche.
He said the meeting was attended by legal representative of the owner of the land, MMC of Human Settlement and his officials, MMC of Infrastructure and officials, the Speaker of Council, representative of the Committee of the Glen Marikana informal settlement, and Terblanche.
“The municipality had ample time to complete the move before lockdown regulations were instated. The Covid-19 regulations which followed did not allow the gathering of more than 100 people and did slow down the reallocation process.
“The metro indicated that the people who still occupied the land did not want to move to Putfontein. The eviction order did not provide a choice of whether residents want to move to Putfontein or not.
“The eviction order is clear and that is that the municipality needs to identify alternative accommodation and the residents need to be moved to the place identified by the municipality.”
The lockdown regulations at Level 3 prohibit evictions, but Terblanche said it does not prohibit the metro to continue with the reallocation of residents to Putfontein.
ALSO READ:
No help for residents with sewage overflows
“The department needs to act as the move to Putfontein will assist occupants of Glen Marikana by providing better living conditions.
“The owner of the land can then also continue his plans to develop the land into residential units, which will provide and assist in economic growth.”
The Express sent an urgent request for comment on both concerns raised by Terblanche.
“The CoE water and sanitation department is attending to maintenance for better management of the supply system to avoid continuous burst pipes to affected areas,” said CoE spokesperson Themba Gadebe.
“The areas of concern were identified and the department is working on a plan to upgrade infrastructure.
“The department is dealing with aged infrastructure, which consists of asbestos and steel pipes,” said Gadebe.
Further comment from CoE will be published in a follow-up article.
Also follow us on:
