The trench left unfilled for seven months pose safety risks on Kandalaar Avenue.
Residents of Silverton, Murrayfield, Meyerspark, and La Montagne are demanding that the Tshwane metro clean up the mess it has left behind after pipe repairs.
Despite completing the repairs, technicians failed to fill in trenches and holes, leaving streets in Ward 41 in a mess.
As a result, the areas are now muddy, and water fills the trenches which worsens with each rainfall.
Ward 41 councillor Ben Chapman also called on the municipality to work efficiently on the response time to water leaks.
Chapman said service delivery in his ward is going to the dogs.
Muddy conditions left behind by the metro. Photo: Supplied
“Service has deteriorated tremendously in the ward, and council is doing nothing about this, while residents in my ward pay their rates and taxes.”
He said there’s a collapse of service delivery within the water department
“Leaks are sometimes not prioritised and some run for over 5 months, which is water wastage.”
He said the blame for the mess left behind by technicians needs to be addressed to the municipality.
“The technicians are good people, I have been working with them for some time now, the issue is that there’s no system or coordination between the water department and the technicians, hence some trenches are left open for several months.”
Chapman expressed frustration with the municipality’s sluggish response to infrastructure issues, citing a massive leak on Rotsvygie Street in La Montagne as a prime example.
“The repair work, initially estimated to take four to five hours, ultimately took four days to complete,” he said.
Ward 41 councillor Ben Chapman
Chapman highlighted the unnecessary costs incurred due to the delay.
“A TLB and water tanker remained idle for three days, accumulating significant expenses, when they could have been utilised for only a few hours if the municipality had responded promptly.”
He attributed the delay to a lack of materials at the regional depot, which necessitated a search across multiple depots.
“This inefficiency resulted in prolonged downtime for the equipment and increased costs.”
Chapman also emphasised the safety risks posed by unfilled trenches, pointing to a particularly hazardous example on Kandalaar Avenue.
“A trench was left unattended for seven months, filling with water, causing road cracks, and allowing vegetation to grow. Despite multiple reports, the issue remains unresolved.”
Chapman said the municipality should do better and provide service to residents worth their money.
“We are calling on the municipality to fix their response rate, coordination between teams and buy materials.”
He said the trenches left in most streets are a danger and the mud caused is totally unacceptable.
He said he is in the process of petitioning the municipal manager for the collapsed water system.
“So far we [are] still gathering signatures and over 1 000 people signed the petition, which we will send to the city manager for consideration.”
He said the residents of ward 41 are deeply concerned about the persistent water service problems in their area.
“We urge the municipality to take immediate action to address these problems, which are affecting daily lives, health and livelihoods.”
Chapman said the current system appears to be on the verge of collapse.
“What was once a relatively efficient service, with response times of three to four hours, has now deteriorated to the point where residents wait weeks for repairs?”
This hole filled with water has been left unattended for seven months.
Photo: Supplied.
He said the city must take immediate action to address this crisis.
“We request the municipality allocate additional resources to support the water teams in Region 6, ensuring they have the necessary equipment and personnel to respond to water leaks in a timely manner.”
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the city is working on replacing all aged water infrastructure in ward 41 and other areas across the municipality.
Mashigo said the trenches are left open for some time to allow them to dry up before backfilling and compacting.
“For the safety of motorists and pedestrians, all trenches are barricaded,” he said.
“As soon as the trench is dry and there is no sign of water leakage, the trench is filled and compacted in layers,” he added.
He said the municipality’s water leaks are attended to within 48 hours to prevent damages on the ground.
“According to our records, the leak on Rostvygie took the team a day to repair the leak.”
However Rekord was provided with screenshots to prove that the water team was on Rostvygie street for three days, and a water tanker was deployed on site.
He added that the city has internal stores where all the materials needed for day-to-day water leaks repairs is stored in bulk to avoid service delivery delays.
“After every repair work, there is a site clearing team that ensures all soil or particles are removed from the road surface, walk ways and drive ways.”
