Johannesburg Water stays silent as Bram Fischer floods on
The tyres are still there, the water is still rising, and Johannesburg Water is still not talking. A month after the Randburg Sun's last report, nothing at Bram Fischer Drive has changed.
The water is still rising. The tyres are still there. And Joburg Water still has nothing to say.
Six months after the Randburg Sun first reported a chronic leak at the intersection of Bram Fischer Drive and Jan Smuts Avenue, the city has offered residents nothing but silence. No fix. No timeline. No accountability.
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The Randburg Sun sent a fresh enquiry to Johannesburg Water on March 9. Communications officer Nolwazi Dhlamini acknowledged the query on March 12, saying she would check with the depot manager. That was where it ended. We are still to hear back from her or the depot manager.
It is not the first time. In January, stand-in Ward 102 councillor Bea Campbell-Cloete stood at the same stagnant pool and demanded answers. “I will be pushing for real answers on when this will finally be resolved.” Six weeks later, those answers have not arrived.
Also read: Drysdale Road in Sundowner in a verge of collapse after flooding
Repair crews did visit the site. They worked on the pipe. The leak came back. Sipho, a displaced individual living nearby, watched it happen. “Even after they worked on it, it keeps coming back.” He was right.
The pool continues to sit on one of Randburg’s busier arterial roads, used daily by residents to collect water and wash. The only evidence that the city knows the problem exists is a ring of old tyres.
What started as a leaking pipe is now a measure of how little this city owes its residents an explanation. The depot manager has presumably been informed.
The Randburg Sun will continue to follow up with Johannesburg Water.
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