Throughout October going into November, homeowner Alet Meyer has been in a tussle with the Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) after their driveway had been dug up more than a month ago to repair a burst pipe.

She claimed that once workers from the Water Department had repaired the pipe, the trench that had been dug across the driveway was filled up with loose soil and left as is. The removed paving bricks were stacked to one side.

When the News investigated this issue in October, the MCLM promised that they would respond to the situation in due course.

In response to a similar story a few weeks prior, the MCLM explained that water pipe repairs generally are done by the Utilities Management Services (UMS) department and that roads, specifically, are repaired by the Public Works, Roads and Transport department.

Regarding this article, The MCLM’s UMS manager, Duncan Mkhonto stated that, “Any sidewalk improvements undertaken by the property owners must be done so at the owner’s own cost and risk. The municipality cannot be liable for the reinstatement of any improvements on sidewalks, such as paving, gardening, irrigation, etc.”

Alet explained that a pipe a few metres away from the trenched-up driveway at the corner of their property, recently sprung a leak and was repaired by the MCLM. It should be noted that the hole in the road municipal workers had dug was filled up with soil and the damaged sidewalk was left as is. A week later, chevron tape tied to a stop sign and three tree branches in the ground still cordoned off part of the road and the sidewalk.

Alet said she asked a UMS representative at the work site about the driveway. He reportedly explained that it was not the municipality’s responsibility to repair the driveway.

This begs the question: accepting that a homeowner’s private property ends at the boundary fence and that the sidewalk is the legal property of the municipality, who would be responsible for repairing a sidewalk/ driveway that had been dug up by the municipality to repair a municipal pipe?

Alet had been quoted R7 500 to have the sidewalk restored, but was reminded that if there’s a problem with the pipe again, it is within the municipality’s right to dig it up again.

Mkhonto found that, after an inspecting this particular sidewalk that, “Paving bricks on the sidewalk were installed by the property owner on municipal property. In an instance where the pavement is installed by Mogale City, it then becomes the responsibility of the municipality to maintain or reinstall it, if work had to be done underground.”

He added that, “Due to continued rainy weather, some of the backfilled soil was washed away by rainwater as there is no paving or grass to cover the surface. UMS has gone back to the property to backfill and level the surface again to make it easier for the owner to reinstall the paving bricks. We urge the owner to reinstall the paving bricks and avoid further soil erosion.”