Thatchfield residents blockade road after no water for weeks
A resident said that she and her children have been using 5litre containers of water to bathe since February 24, and that the indignity that they were facing was unacceptable.
Thatchfield residents that have gone without water for weeks blocked roads in Centurion this morning, March 15.
Loraine Mhlongo is one of the residents that took to the streets to protest for her water supply.
She said that since February 24, she has not had water. “They never even organised tankers for us, so we have to go and buy water. It’s a mess.”
She said that she and her children have been using 5l containers of water to bathe and that the indignity that they were facing was unacceptable.
Mhlongo said that they had been told by Rand Water that everything was fine from their side and that the issue lay with the City of Tshwane.
The metro, however, said that the issue lay with Rand Water as the reservoir was not receiving water.
When Rekord spoke to Mhlongo, she said that police had arrived on the scene with tow trucks to remove the vehicles blocking the road.
Ward councillor Tembeni Thabatha said that the residents in the area haven’t had water for more than two weeks.
Councillor Casper McDonald said, “It’s not a council issue. Rand Water supplies water to them.”
He added that at the time of publishing, the metro and Rand Water were meeting to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Councillor Marika Kruger-Muller reported that areas in Sunderland Ridge, Mooiplaats and Thatchfield have been without water for up to 17 days, but that the situation was beginning to improve.
The first issues at Sunderland Ridge began on January 18 when taps initially went dry in West Hills.
When inspectors went to the reservoir on March 7, they found that it was dry.
Kruger-Muller said that she had received information that the struggles faced by residents in Mooiplaats, Sunderland Ridge, and Thatchfield were as yet unknown.
Teams working on the supply issue told the councillor that water pressure coming from Rand Water was as expected, but that an obstruction or possible airlock was causing the reservoir to not fill up.
Further, the department’s budget for water tankers had been depleted.
Rand Water did not respond by the time of publishing.
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