Mjejane resident not happy with non-delivery
Thomas explained that they used to pay for water from a water-purification plant in Hectorspruit, but the company had closed its doors to them.
HECTORSPRUIT – This week Mr André Thomas brought a serious case of non-delivery to the attention of Corridor Gazette.
He and his family lived in the Mjejane Trust and had always paid their way. The trust infrastructure was almost non-existent as there was no accessible water and electricity.
Thomas explained that they used to pay for water from a water-purification plant in Hectorspruit, but the company had closed its doors to them.
His wife Phumzile said the plant’s reason was that people who were paying for water were complaining that trust residents received it free.
She added, “This is reasonable. We don’t mind paying for service delivery, but then we would expect it to happen.” According to the couple, they have been ordering water from the local municipality since last October, but they need to wait for it to be delivered.
Thomas said, “I was told that the water would be delivered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I ordered it on Monday January 6 after returning from my holiday to an empty tank.
I was unable to get off work to pay the municipality, so I only paid for the water the following day. We never received it. We called on Wednesday and were promised we’d receive it on Thursday, but again it never came.
So we phoned the Nkomazi helpline and people promised that it would arrive on Monday, but it never did. At this point our phone bill reached a considerable amount and our patience was running out.”
Thomas said the municipality was shirking its responsibilities. He said, “No one can give you a straight answer and no one ever knows what is going on. It is basic: we should receive what we are paying for.”
Mr Cyril Ripinga, spokesman for the Nkomazi Municipality expressed his apologies and didn’t deny that the municipality could be in the wrong. “I am not saying the municipality is clean, we are selling water to the people, but only for consumption.
No water is delivered for construction purposes. We are trying our best to deliver it and other services to the people.
The Mjejane Trust is not yet municipal land, this makes things difficult for us.
We ask the community to contact the Nkomazi helpline for assistance and please to be patient,” said Ripinga.
