A month has passed since the Randburg Sun last reported on the chronic leak at the intersection of Bram Fischer Drive and Jan Smuts Avenue. The tyres are still there. The water is still rising. And the city is still silent.

When this publication first wrote about the site in August last year, what appeared to be a routine Joburg Water repair had already overstayed its welcome.

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By January 30, stand-in Ward 102 councillor Bea Campbell-Cloete was standing at the same stagnant pool, demanding answers that never came. Now, six weeks on, nothing has changed.

The Randburg Sun sent a fresh enquiry to Joburg Water on March 9.

Communications officer Nolwazi Dhlamini acknowledged the query and said she would check with the depot manager. As of publication on March,12, no further response had been received.

For residents in the area, the silence is familiar. Sipho, who is a displaced individual that lives nearby, watched repair crews attempt a fix that lasted no time at all. “Even after they worked on it, it keeps coming back,” he said.

Also read: Taps run dry while street leak flows

The pool of water at the site, which residents have been using to collect water and wash, remains a daily hazard on one of Randburg’s busier arterial roads.

Campbell-Cloete, who escalated the matter through council channels in January, had said at the time: “I will be pushing for real answers on when this will finally be resolved.” Those answers remain outstanding.

What began as a leaking pipe has become something else entirely, a test of municipal accountability that the city continues to fail.

The Randburg Sun will continue to follow up with Joburg Water.

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