“New South Africa” emerges

Dear Sir/Madam

A new symptom of the disease called the “New South Africa” has emerged.

As a result of the rampant unemployment, and the accompanying poverty, in a country where people who have no hope of getting a job yet need to eat and feed their families, these people have discovered a new way of “earning” a living. Brass water meters have scrap value. The meter and accompanying piping are, literally, ripped out of the ground thus disconnecting the pipe which supplies water to the house.

The result of this is that thousands of litres of precious water are wasted while the Tshwane metro makes excuses such as:

Our system is down;

I can’t find the plumber;

We can’t find the address (this because the address was written down incorrectly); etc.

Woe to the unfortunate homeowner and his family whose meter was stolen because they are now forced to do battle with the full force of the “We really don’t give a damn” attitude of the “Igniting Excellence” Tshwane municipality.

Despite being assured that the repair would take place within three days, we are still without water after six and we are still being assured that the repair will take place tomorrow. A classic case of “tomorrow never comes”. We are still begging for water and still having to carry buckets of water to flush the toilet and perform other household tasks.

My wife and I are pensioners and are fast approaching seventy. She has health issues and I suffer from a severe lung condition (Not caused by cigarette smoking in case somebody should wonder.) which causes severe asthma when carrying buckets of water.

I hope this letter may serve to warn and prepare others who encounter similar problems. Unfortunately I have no solution to the problem and will be glad to hear if any of the readers has.

Yours faithfully