Update: No water, no explanation from municipality

For the third day in a row nearly the entire town has no water supply – and the few homes that do have water are receiving the supply at very low pressure.

Thousands of residents have been affected and are outraged at the incompetence of the municipality as suspicions arise that the real reason behind the problem is being covered up.

This is because the municipality has not provided an adequate explanation as exactly what the problem is and is yet to do so.

Numerous attempts to obtain information from various municipal officials, including the municipal manager Mandla Mnguni, Deputy Director of the Civil Engineering Department Rudolph Bouwer, and Communications Manager Prudence Magutle,were not responded to on Friday morning.

The water was first cut off on Wednesday morning – coinciding with the municipal strike by more than 1 200 employees.

The cause was said to be a pipe burst in Liter Street which took close to 24 hours to fix – only to burst again on Thursday morning.

Water supply was only partially restored during the early hours of Friday morning and later cut off again.

Residents received the following SMS late on Thursday afternoon: “Interruption in water supply to Eastdene is because of damages to the main supply line in Liter Street. Estimated restoration time five hours.

The Municipality is currently attending to the low water pressure in the other affected areas. Water tankers are used to fill the water network. Apologies for the inconvenience”.

The Freedon Front Plus claims that they will demand answers for this unexpected action.

“The emergency department answered with a sleepy voice “we must check after 07:30”. The Mayor’s telephone is on voice mail. The fire department doesn’t know what the problem is,” Johan Duvenage said in a statement.

“But the municipality workers have the right to strike and totally forget where their money comes from – the tax payer! It is our right as taxpayers to claim disciplinary action against those responsible”.

The municipality promised to provide some clarity on the matter by early this afternoon – this will be communicated as soon as it is received.

Read other stories here:

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