To all the responsible stakeholders… our local municipality and Uthukela. A manhole, or whatever terminology you would like to use, was discovered only when I was trying to track a SEWERAGE LEAK on my property. Endless calls to the UTHUKELA call centre. My first call was promptly responded to.
They sent a team to investigate. The four men just came and stared at the manholes and told me that they are ours.
I know which of the five are ours and the two leaking ones ARE NOT ours! They told me to call my private plumber, which I did immediately.
He came and told me what I already know. I kept on phoning back after that and I was told, they will send someone to come and sort it out, no one came. I was told that they would call me back, no one bothered to call. The one manhole comes off Victoria Street and the other one from Connor Street side. But they are collecting in our property.
Anyway… I noticed that there was a leak in Barfield Road. I phoned UTHUKELA, got another reference number and told them I think there is a link between ours leading into Victoria Street down into Barfield Road. Well, on either side of the 123 Victoria Steps, the grass, weeds and trees are so OVER GROWN. To find anything there will be a challenge.
Surprisingly they uncovered a cement-covered manhole, BUT I think the municipality (perhaps the grass and trees department) need to get in there and cut everything down so UTHUKELA can conduct their work efficiently and trace where all these pipelines go and get them unblocked.
I call on the supervisor of Uthukela, Thembi Sithomo, to please come to Estcourt and meet with our management so that we can sort out our sewerage and water leaks. Also, you said you would investigate our situation, I haven’t heard from you.
Which brings me to the next concern.
This is between SHOPRITE and the POST OFFICE. All good and well to put tape up. In the meantime fresh water is constantly running down the pavements. Oh boy, wouldn’t the Cape love just a drop of that water? It doesn’t mean because our Wagendrift Dam is full, we are ENTITLED to say “oh well, we got water, so what the hell”. No water, no life!
Uthukela and our municipality need to sit around the table and sort out, once and for all, who is going to take control and get maintenance and repairs done.
Get the politics out of the way and do what you have been employed to do, work and get things done for the community. We don’t deserve this lack of caring. We deserve better treatment and we deserve RESPECT.
Angela Keyter
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