Joe Slovo is one of Milnerton’s most vulnerable communities and its residents are claiming that some of them were left without water for two weeks.
Some residents say that no water was coming out of their taps while some said even with the tap open at full capacity, the best they got was a trickling of water.
Resident, Nombeko Shente said it was unacceptable that she and her family had to wait hours for a dripping tap to fill her bucket or she would have to walk a few kilometres to the other side of Joe Slovo where they had water supply.
“Joe Slovo is split in two. One side had water while the other didn’t.
“Things have been restored now, thank goodness. But for two weeks we had very little supply while other homes had none at all. I would have to walk to my in-laws who live a 10-minute walk away. At any time of day or night, there can be power cuts, water supply cuts and other disrupted services and all of this without any explanation,” she said.
Other issues are still prevalent in Joe Slovo like the drains seemingly bursting every day. Another two-week-long issue was at Hlosi Drive where sewage was flowing from day and night.
Joe Slovo community leader, Sibongile Kofi, told Tabletalk he felt that City of Cape Town officials were ignoring his and other residents’ requests for assistance. He said it took two weeks of constant calling the City for anything to be done.
“It took too long. People can’t live without water or live in poo and must just accept that. The City needs to look after all of their citizens.
“We have young children and the elderly who depend on basic services provided by the City,” Mr Kofi said.
Ward 4 councillor, Anthony Benadie, said the water issue was mentioned to him by residents during his meeting with Joe Slovo residents last Tuesday but there were no confirmed reports to the City.
“As for the Hlosi Drive sewer, we all know that the sewer system in Joe Slovo is under severe strain. There were overflows almost every day last week at different points in the community. The one in Hlosi has repeatedly been attended to.
“Thankfully the system upgrade and reconstruction is under way and I hope that it will eliminate the sewer crisis, once complete,” he said.
Mayco member for water and sanitation, Dr Zahid Badroodien, said water was temporarily shut off last week Wednesday for a repair, and that the water and sanitation team was not aware of any case where water has not been available for two weeks.
“Please note, when City teams are conducting a repair to the water system in Joe Slovo, the water supply disruption does not only affect a specific street where the repair is being done, due to structures that are built over the valves and hydrants but the supply is temporarily switched off for the area as well until the work has been completed.”
Dr Badroodien said residents should keep the reference numbers for their service requests logged with the City so they can follow up on the progress of their queries.