HIGHVELD – When recently reporting on a burst water pipe in Okavango Street, Secunda, the Ridge Times came to learn that there is only one qualified team to service water leaks in the whole Govan Mbeki municipal area.
It was also reported that the team is only allowed to work 20 hours a week.
A burst pipe can take anything from hours to several days to fix.
When on the sight, Ms Aranda Nel-Buitendag, councillor of the FF Plus, raised her concerns that it had taken the team six days to attend to the water leak in Okavango Street.
The team was attending another water leak not far from this site.
They said they have been attending to numerous problems and that residents get angry when they do not respond fast enough, however they are doing the best they can with limited resources, manpower and time, while having to attend to all the towns within GMM.
“We are doing the best we can, we are only one team,” said a worker who wished not to be named.
Ms Nel-Buitendag said it is unacceptable to have only one team servicing the whole GMM. She said in the past there were four to five teams. She said old infrastructure, poor maintenance and tree roots are the most common causes for water pipe leaks.
“When the team is busy on one side, another pipe will burst somewhere else. The water is then left running down our streets for days because they are not being attended to quick enough.
“All these kilolitres of clean water are being lost and the consumers have to pay for it, whether we like it or not,” said Ms Nel-Buitendag.
She said GMM does not care and that on most occasions it would take arguing with management and the technical team before leaks are attended to.
“The municipal management needs to take responsibility. The ruling party needs to take responsibility,” ended Ms Nel-Buitendag.
Mr Donald Green, acting head of communication, said that the municipality is giving the matter attention with the aim of reducing overtime and the possibility of hiring more staff in the technical field, however, GMM is facing serious financial constraints, including the Eskom and Rand Water debts which are collectively more than R2-billion.
“Despite the financial strain, the municipality is still able to provide basic services such as water and electricity,” said Mr Green.
“We are currently buying yellow fleet, which includes TLBs, front-end loaders and graders, among others to improve service delivery. Some of these fleet have been handed over last month to municipal departments.
“We are also making tremendous progress in turnaround time when it comes to attending to leaking meters and burst pipes.”
He said that water leaks, non-payment of services, electricity bridges and vandalism add to the financial burdens of the municipality.
“The consumption bill is larger than the amount that is recovered from those who actually pay for their water and electricity use.” He said council has taken more stringent measures to collect the money owed by its residents and businesses.
“This includes embarking on a drive to disconnect those in arrears and those who are not paying,” ended Mr Green.
