Tshwane metro Democratic Alliance (DA) councillors had become the call centre for people battling with poor service delivery, residents of Waterkloof were told on Wednesday evening.
“Problems with metro electricity accounts or water leaks are reported on a daily basis. The only thing we as councillors could do is to use our contacts at the different departments,” said DA councillor Bronwyn Engelbrecht.
“We have to sort out all the infrastructure problems. There are good and efficient officials who are more than willing to assist us and those are the ones who are going with us when we take over the metro next year.”
Engelbrecht was speaking at a meeting held to discuss infrastructure problems plaguing the residents of Waterkloof. Sixteen elderly residents attended.
They expressed their disappointment at the absence of Tshwane metro officials.
Engelbrecht, councillor for ward 42, said she invited officials of the metro council to discuss water, electricity and sanitation problems.
“They did not bother to pitch. They would rather sit at home, having dinner. I had a water leak on Wednesday morning. I had been on the phone most of the day and none of the directors or officials bothered to answer their phones.”
Residents complained about the so-called smart metres for prepaid electricity the metro was installing, leaking water pipes and electricity problems not related to load-shedding.
Darryl Ross, DA shadow MEC for infrastructure service in Pretoria, accused the metro of not caring for its people and painted a bleak picture for the future of service delivery in the city.
“Forget about getting better service for maintenance and upgrades. You are not going to get better service. The reason for that is the budget for the year 2015/2016. There is no money,” he said.
“There is not enough resources and not enough money to pay the workers.”
Ross said the budget for infrastructure of the city was only R2.5 billion.
“This sounds like a lot of money, but it is not enough for the whole city. This spells serious problems.”
Engelbrecht agreed, saying: “The metro is in dire financial problems.”
Asked how the DA would get the city out of debt should the party take over the running of the metro, Ross said money for this would have to be borrowed.
Most residents felt nothing had been achieved by the meeting because Tshwane officials failed to attend.
The metro council could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.
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