Repair teams leave trail of destruction

Repair teams of the Tshwane metro have left a trail of destruction in Elardus Park, residents complained this week.

They said driveways and sidewalks that had been dug up to repair leaking water pipes had been left in a chaotic state – sometimes left open, sometimes hastily filled, but never properly closed.

It all started with a burst water pipe in December. Metro teams had been working non-stop to repair pipe after pipe, as the first fault set off a chain reaction.

Resident Kara Kraft said she is fed-up with the mess left by the metro in Elardus Park.

“The street has been left in a mess, it is dangerous and they have left the old pipes and the tree they chopped down as is,” she said.

“We are fully aware that all the pipes in the old suburbs of Pretoria are failing and we are quite happy as residents that the pipes are being replaced. We would rather the council replace all the pipes at once instead of doing one pipe every second week when the pipe bursts and we waste valuable water running down the street.”

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mshigo said in a statement more maintenance needed to be done in the area.

“The City of Tshwane’s water and sanitation division will carry out a scheduled maintenance and upgrading of the Elardus Park water network on Tuesday, 20 January 2015 from 08h00 to 16h00. Residents of this area are thus forewarned about the possible interruption, however, this will be avoided at all costs,” Mashigo said on Monday.

Elardus Park residents said the metro’s communication with them was woefully inadequate.

Kraft said: “The only time the community has heard from the City of Tshwane is when the press questioned them. Again this is completely unacceptable.”

Tshwane Metro was not available to comment about the communication issue.

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