3 years later, Vorna Valley resident still battles with JW over damaged swimming pool
Stuart Hall is upset with Johannesburg Water's lack of sense of urgency over fixing and rehabilitating his damaged swimming pool, three years after the damage was caused.
May 10 marked exactly three years since Stuart Hall’s swimming pool, in Vorna Valley, Midrand, was damaged due to a blocked Johannesburg Water (JW) manhole.
The manhole, which is outside Hall’s yard, apparently clogged, caused sewer water to seep into Hall’s yard and pool in 2022.
Hall said he was angry at JW’s lack of urgency in fixing his pool, as this was caused by their blocked manhole. He said he had visited JW’s offices, but had not been able to get help. From then to date, Hall added that JW had claimed from its insurers four times using four different reference numbers, but the claim had been rejected.
“So, at the end of the day, there is no reference number for this,” said the irate resident. “Only the insurance claim number, which is useless, as it was rejected. I am really upset about this because the amount of time and energy I have spent trying to fix this amounts to months. That’s my time and energy, not theirs.”
Hall said he wanted compensation, and the rehabilitation of his yard and pool, because ‘JW have screwed up his life for the past three years, and it’s their fault’.
He claimed JW officials kept passing the buck on to someone else. He said the prepayment manager at JW kept on saying that he would revert back to him shortly, but never did. He eventually passed the matter to JW’s regional manager, who had been provided with all the documents and information about the sewer leak, but had not yet responded.
Hall said he met JW’s acting manager in January this year, but the manager had no clue what Hall was talking about. “These people are useless and incompetent. They have no clue what is happening on the ground. They sit in their offices, doing nothing and taking a fat paycheck at the end of the month. For doing what? Nothing,” he claimed.
Also read: Water is scarce, but there is water – JW spokesperson
JW spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said that this matter was initially forwarded to and handled by their insurance claims department. “Following a review, the claim was declined and subsequently referred to operations for further investigation. Unfortunately, Akani Shibambu was the sole individual managing this matter, in his capacity as depot manager. As a result, there was no follow-up or continuity after his departure.”
She did not provide reasons why the claim was rejected, nor the purpose of referring it to operations.
When asked about the allegations that the JW officials, in Hall’s view, were ‘useless’, Shabalala said that while they understood the frustration that may have led to such a comment, they believed it was important to approach this matter constructively.
Shabalala concluded that if there were specific instances where commitments were not met, JW would appreciate it if the affected resident could share the details so they could be addressed appropriately.
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