In response to the article that appeared in the Estcourt and Midlands News dated June 9 and subsequent media inquiry thereafter, UThukela District Municipality has compiled the following responses as an official response to your inquiry.
UThukela District Municipality wishes to advise Mrs Angela Keyter that she needs to get her facts straight when submitting articles to the media.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE: Belmont Court residents battle incessant leak
We, as uThukela DM, are not responsible for any internal water leaks or internal sewer blockages. This has been conveyed to Mrs Keyter many times. UThukela DM is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the main water and sewer reticulation pipes, which are either running in the road reserve or are situated in a 2m servitude, which runs along property boundaries.
Our responsibility therefore ends at the water meter (for water pipes) and at terminal manholes or sewer junctions (for sewer pipes). Any sewer blockage or water leak on the property outside of the water meter or terminal manhole is the responsibility of the property owner to resolve.
The fact that uThukela DM staff went to Belmont Court was purely out of courtesy to unblock the sewer lines so that we could get an idea of where the internal sewer pipes are running. Our plumbers are under instruction not to carry out any work on a private property.
The internal sewer reticulation pipework on the Belmont Court property as well as internal sewer line from the next door property is not the responsibility of uThukela DM. The car wash is also not the responsibility of the Operation and Maintenance Section of uThukela DM.
Mrs Keyter appears to be confusing the issue of the car wash and the water leak on her property because the water discharge from the car wash is not discharging into any sewer line that runs through her property but the car wash is discharging into storm water channel, which flows into the gutter in Albert Street.
It is normal for this surface water to flow in gutters alongside roads. Furthermore, the storm water drainage system is also not the responsibility of uThukela DM.
We take exception to the statement made by Mrs Keyter whereby she implies that our employees are not doing the right thing and allow certain irregularities to get passed.
If she cannot make specific charge with the names of our officials involved, she must stop making vague allegations to the media as she might find herself facing legal actions.
In the future Mrs Keyter must report all water and sewer related complaints (but not internal issues) to our call centre on 086 010 4257 and she must obtain a reference number.
Failure to produce a reference number will result in no response from our operation and maintenance staff.
Jabulani Mkhonza
uThukela District Communications Unit
Thanks for the response to my second letter of which wasn’t a letter but an article that was published in the local paper. My original letter sent to the paper has not been published but I am very sure Uthukela and Inkosi Langalibalele both received it.
In that letter I DID mention, by name, every single person, from both municipalities. I am also not confused about our internal property water leak.
I had everyone here, with plans of the property manholes. Every single manhole was opened and it was made very clear to me which belonged to who.
I was told that the ones leaking come from next door. All I am doing is going on information supplied by those who should direct us towards a solution.
But it seems like no one is able to help because it is always the responsibility of the next person. Threatening me with legal action is so uncalled for. I did mention every single channel I went through, in a letter that wasn’t published.
The loyal support of the staff responsible for coming and removing plastic bags from one manhole was appreciated.
But that didn’t solve our problem. You opened the manhole to get a better picture of where this water is coming from.
You know the situation and you were querying it and the reason why it looked odd. You said you were going to write your report and speak to the neighbour to divert his water into the main municipal line.
Now we have another leak coming from under the wall. Can you explain that one? About the car wash, there is no confusion there either.
Many years ago, we were told by an employee of Uthukela, now retired, that the car wash has no interceptor tanks, that they diverted the water into the sewer. Again, I am going on by what those in those positions told us.
The car wash is very busy and the amount of water running down Albert Street just does not justify it. There seems to be a bigger problem than meets the eye. All I need is for both municipalities to sit down and resolve this problem.
If, as you say, the problem lies with us, when you opened ALL our manholes and ours were all clear AND you took plastic bags out of the manhole that is still a problem, where is the leak coming from and where is the blockage?
All of my facts are straight. I have gone on everything that Les Jacobs has told me, on what Gordon Cross said and everyone else that has been here. If it was our internal blockage, surely wouldn’t our toilets, etc be overflowing in our flats?
Angela Keyter
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