Residents of Roodepoort North are very unhappy with the Johannesburg Water (JW) sewerage system upgrade, which has been under way since July last year.
One resident, Henry Schilling, said that he was very concerned about all the water outages they experienced since the upgrades started. “We wake early in morning and the water has been shut off, and it only comes back on very late at night. We never receive any notices about when this will be happening, and it usually happens when we are at work. Our pets have to go through the whole day without water, and when we return from work, we have to get water from somewhere to boil and give it to them. How long will this continue?” he asked.
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But this is not the only issue – many residents have been on the receiving end of damage to their properties, ranging from dug up sidewalks and driveways to perimeter walls falling down. Some residents’ electricity cables have also been damaged by the contractors.
Colin Hartzenberg had numerous issues and fought an uphill battle with the contractors to sort it out. “The contractors caused a lot of damage to the paving stones of my driveway and to the grass inside my property as well as on the sidewalk. My electricity supply cable was cut and my property’s outer walls were damaged to such an extent I was afraid that they would fall over. I contacted the contractors every second day from the beginning of November last year, and they kept promising they would come and repair the damage, but I had to resort to calling in the help of the ward councillor before anything started to happen,” he said.
According to Gert Niemand, the councillor for Ward 84, the upgrade should be completed by the end of April. “The project was initiated by JW with the main purpose of replacing the old sewer system. The new system will be running on a street system where the main line will be on the sidewalk and not inside private property. Before upgrading started, affected residents were informed about the process. There have been a few snags in the project, but contractors have been accommodating in restoring them. Residents should not refuse access to their properties as it will only prolong the process as all of the properties need to be connected to the new system before the old one will be decommissioned. If you are not on the new system, you will experience problems,” he said.
Residents who have experienced damage to their properties should report to either of the Community Liaison Officers (CLOs), Sindiswa Ntloko on 072 098 4253, or Bongani Radebe on 078 443 1501. The contractors are responsible for reinstatements on any damages caused and the CLOs are there to facilitate the process.
Gert concluded by saying, “If any residents feel their property has been damaged and not sufficiently repaired, they are welcome to contact the CLOs or me.”
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