Florida Lake residents cry foul over ongoing power outages and water shortage

Angry residents of Riethaan and Eeufees streets at Florida Lake in Roodepoort are up in arms trying to demand answers from their councillors and City Power as to why the area is always experiencing frequent power outages and regular water pipe bursts.

The situation worsened this week when, in addition to the misery of regular load shedding scheduled by Eskom, their electricity supply frequently cuts off and did not return for hours, causing their refrigerated food stuff to rot while thugs raided the area and stole from the houses. Often electricity did not return after load shedding because of outages that took place during the load shedding period.

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The current outage, which is not the first, started on Wednesday afternoon and nobody from City Power had come to attend to the problem since despite some residents having reported and received acknowledgement about their cases. This followed similar outages that happened on Tuesday last week and lasted until Friday evening when the power was restored while the previous week the power went off from Monday and was only restored on Wednesday.

The situation was exacerbated by a water pipe burst in Eeufees Avenue that was not attended to since Wednesday. Some houses had no water while others experienced very low pressure caused by the pipe burst that had not been fixed since Wednesday.

One of the residents, Ziyaad Naidoo expressed frustration at the situation. “We, the community living in Florida Lake, Roodepoort are living in extreme situations were from November to date every week we don’t have lights for three to four days at a time. It has become so unbearable that we have to live without power and water for days on end.

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“We get no assistance from our councillor or updates on the situation. No matter where in Roodepoort, if there is a cable fault we are affected as Florida Lake,” Naidoo said.

According to Naidoo, the residents had approached their ward councillor but was turned away. “We demand answers and also help from the MMC in the Council. Living in this area has reached a boiling point and had become a living hell,” Naidoo said.

Another Florida Lake resident at Eeufees Avenue, Natalie Smith was badly affected by the outages because she had lost an income as all her tenants had left because they could not bear the situation. “I am very very frustrated by the situation in Florida Lake, we have outages almost every week that last for three to four consecutive days and on top of that we also don’t have water because the pressure is very low. I am very tired, I am exhausted, I really can’t take it anymore,” Smith said.

According to Smith, who was cooking her supper outside in two black pots using fire made on an old wheelbarrow, said despite paying their rates and service bills, the community was not getting proper service from the municipality. They were praying for the political parties, government and councillors to care and intervene in the situation. She concurred with Naidoo that they experienced three outages in the last three weeks and that Florida Lake was always impacted when any area of Roodepoort had outages.

“As we speak, we don’t have power, we don’t have water. I am just frustrated. I have anxiety, sleepless nights it’s just a mess. I have reached a point where I cannot take this anymore because I have lost tenants. I am unemployed. I was generating income by renting out my two cottages but now the tenants have left for another place where they will have power,” Smith said.

Florida Lake is an island residential area situated between Eeufees Avenue and Riethaan street on the west side of the Florida lake itself. Residents had been complaining about regular breaking water pipes in Eeufees and never-ending water leaks in front of several houses on Reitman but all those problems had not been attended to.

Underground pipe leak ignored for two months

An underground pipe leak on the main pipe outside 78 Eeufees Avenue that spilled into the house and affected other houses underground in Riethaan street, was reported over two months ago, but to no avail as the problem was not attended to by Johannesburg Water.

The residents also complained to the councillors and City Power about high bills they received after new electricity smart metres were installed recently. One resident said the problem needed to be addressed because they were being overcharged by City Power although “we are not using a lot of electricity”. Another said he got a huge bill even when he had not used electricity which left him wondering where the bill came from.

Councillor Caleb Finn said there was a cable fault located behind the Shoprite store that affected the Florida CBD including Fieldhouse, Goldman and Plaza) and hoped the power would be restored by 20:00 on Friday night. But other people said the Florida Lake outage was a different problem and power was unlikely to be restored in the area.

City Power and Joburg Water could not be reached for comment about the outages and the water leaks in Eeufees Avenue, Florida Lake.

Last week, Roodepoort itself experienced water shortages and load shedding at the same time affecting areas such as Princess Wilropark, Lindhaven and surrounding areas.

“The whole week community around Roodepoort had to travel to Krugersdorp and shopping centres and malls to get water for toilet facilities,” said a resident, Phumudzo Mukhwathi.

– ericn@citizen.co.za