Residents of Silverstream Road in Manenberg, said thousands of litres of water could have been saved, if the City of Cape Town responded sooner to their many reports of a burst pipe.
Water was running freely down a sewer drain from the burst pipe for 24 hours, from Tuesday January 30 to Wednesday January 31. Neighbours had come to collect water with their buckets, and said they planned to use it to clean their houses and do their laundry. About 16 households were affected, as the burst pipe lowered the water pressure in their homes, which resulted in them only getting a trickling of water from the taps, and the toilets could not flush at all.
Leon Jansen said they were frustrated that their pleas fell on deaf ears.
“We phoned the City, we sent them SMSes and WhatsApps. Some neighbours also sent emails, but they never responded,” Mr Jansen said.
Anneline Beukes said the City is quick to threaten residents with water management devices, because of the water restrictions, but they do not apply their own rules when it comes to water wastage.
“I have a small baby at home, and to be without water is not good. We ran here with our buckets to collect some water and make better use of it. My concern with the City is that they have no way of communicating with us. They pressure us to save water, but it seems that rule does not apply when it comes to them,” Ms Beukes said.
Denise Wakens said her daughter, Liezel Wakens, sent emails to the mayor Patricia de Lille, premier Helen Zille, and the City’s human settlements department, and all she got was a notification that they received her email, “but nothing else”.
Harold Blake said he approached a City of Cape Town’s water and sanitation team, who was busy working just about 30 metres away from the burst pipe, for their assistance, since nobody was responding to their concerns.
“Their answer was very funny for me. When we asked them for help, they told us they cannot help, because they do not have the tools to do the job, and that they only work on the sewerage part, not the water part of their department,” Mr Blake said.
The City of Cape Town did not respond to the Athlone News’ enquiry at the time of going to print. However, the burst pipe had been fixed within 30 minutes after the Athlone News phoned the City to ask about its lack of
response.
