East pensioner wants metro to pay for damage to her home
“One time I was awoken by the sound of water to see a river was flowing past. I just stood there praying that my house was not washed away.”
A Mamelodi family claims to have suffered flood damage of thousands of rands when a local water reservoir overflowed.
Homeowner and pensioner Joyce Tefo said the perimeter wall around her home collapsed when a water pipe at the Mamelodi East Section SNS reservoir burst, flooding her home and her neighbour’s.
She said her Thibela Street home flooded regularly and she blamed the Tshwane metro for this.
“I do not even feel safe here anymore because the metro cannot tell me when next the reservoir will overflow,” she said.
“The local councillor was notified of the situation but has failed to attend to the problem.
The problem started in 2005 and the succession of councillors since then have all been unwilling to help, she claimed.
“I have spent a lot of money trying to fix my yard. I built a wall to prevent the water from reaching the house, but the water keeps knocking the wall over.
“At one time I was awoken by the sound of water in the middle of the night. A river was flowing through my yard. I stood there paralysed. There was nothing I could except to pray the house would not be washed away.”
Tefo said she had been to the metro to complain, but was sent her from pillar to post.
She said an official at the metro had told her “an automatic stopper” which shut the feeder pipe when the reservoir was full, was stolen and that was why it continuously overflowed.
“He told me nothing could be done about this.”
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo advised the family to file a claim for damages against the metro.
“The family must go to the satellite office in Mamelodi ask for the form to fill in if it wants to be compensated.”
He said the metro would check if it had ever been made aware of the damage to the reservoir.
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
