Andiswa Ngenyane and Ivanilde Melembe
A series of burst water pipes has been occurring in Soshanguve lately. Block G has seen almost six occurrences in the last 3 months.
Resident of Block G, Buhlebazwe Street, who did not want to be identified said the community in the street tried to report the damaged road for several times but nothing has been done.
One of the residents said the community is worried that the water wasted due to the leaking pipes affects their water bills and that they will be charged for water that they did not use.
“These burst pipes have been like this for the past five months, I reported the problem to the municipality and I have not seen officials coming to repair the pipes,” he said.
Residents fear for their lives as the roads shake when a heavy vehicle like a delivery truck passes by. Car owners also complain because when these pipes burst they don’t just fill the streets with water, but they mess up the tar as well.
Soshanguve Times journalists spoke to plumbers from the Tshwane Municipality, who said they were responsible for a burst pipe in one of the streets in Block G. They also said fixing pipes is a struggle in Soshanguve because there are only two vehicles that operate in their department.
When asked what could be the cause of the pipes bursting, they said they were not sure, however, it could be that cheap material for both the pipes and the tar road were used. They said the it could also be because the pipes are old and need to be changed.
According to an article published on the website of one of the political parties active in the area on 05 November 2015, many of these leaks have been reported to the municipality over three months ago but the City of Tshwane has failed to fix these to date.
This is despite the municipality promising to fix leaks within 48 hours, and at worst, within 72 hours. The leaks have also caused damage to roads in the area causing potholes to form general erosion.
Attempts to get a comment from the Tshwane Municipality failed.
