Residents say they try in vain to report emergencies

A broken cable which resulted in no water or electricity supply in the Belladonna area left residents frustrated on Friday. The problem was speedily resolved and while residents in West Acres and Stonehenge were left without water for a spell, a larger frustration seems to be the challenge of reporting incidents.
According to Mr Richmond Jele, spokesman for Sembcorp Silulumanzi, a contractor accidently damaged the supply cable while digging the trench to replace the water mains. He said it was located only
300 millimetres underground and was replaced the same day. Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) also confirmed the incident.
However, it was the fact that residents couldn’t reach and report it to Sembcorp which fuelled frustration. One reader, Mr Ted McGee, wrote a letter to Nelspruit Post’s sister publication Lowvelder on the same day, explaining that he had been trying to report the incident, but to no avail. He referred to an article in which MLM spokesman, Mr Joseph Ngala requested residents to be water wise. “My Sembcorp account is also on hand and I read, ‘Save our precious water’ and to ‘repair leaks’. At this very moment, there is literally thousands of litres running down the drain. In Delta Street a pipe has burst and I have been trying to absolutely no avail to report the break and the very serious loss of water,” McGee wrote. He had been trying to contact Sembcorp, the fire department “who has no concern with the problem” and even MLM’s emergency number without any success.
“It is unbelievable and unacceptable that one gets no response from emergency numbers. Why is this type of service accepted? The loss of this water should not be tolerated and that there is no means to activate a responsible person to go and close an isolating stop cock is shocking.”
Jele apologised for the inconvenience caused and said network-connectivity problems might have led to the communication issue. He reassured residents that contact numbers were manned 24 hours, seven days a week including all public holidays. According to Jele the number to the Sembcorp Silulumanzi control room is 086-174-5858 (share-call number) or landline 013-752-6839. “Both these are printed on the monthly statement sent by post.”
According to him the Sembcorp Silulumanzi control room is manned from 06:00 to 22:00, after which all incoming calls are diverted to a cellphone answered by the staff member on duty until 05:59 the following day. From 06:00 until 22:00 all landline numbers are fully activated and ready to be answered, even on Christmas Day. Jele furthermore added that there were always two teams ready to respond to burst pipes and sewer blockages after business hours from 16:00 to 07:00.
“Extra teams are always on standby to respond to major incidents when a call is received by the control room, and dispatched teams accordingly. All calls reporting disruption of service are logged and tracked accordingly,” he concluded.