This comes barely a week after Member of Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services Matshidiso Mfikoe warned residents about a further deterioration in the bulk supply system, recommending a higher level of water restrictions. Mfikoe said Rand Water had notified them of a further deterioration in the bulk supply system.
She said, “It is against this backdrop that the City of Johannesburg has to invoke Section 44(3) of the Water Services Bylaw, a Level-2 restriction which is more austere than the Level-1 Restriction. The Level-1 restriction is an appeal to residents and consumers to use water responsibly and sparingly, as a mitigation measure.” Mfikoe said in terms Section 44(3) (Level-2 Restriction) of this bylaw, residents, businesses and consumers are forthwith compelled not to water and irrigate their gardens between 6am and 6pm, not to fill their swimming pools and not to use hosepipes to wash their cars or paved areas.
However, one of the eyewitnesses to the water theft, Errol Levin, said not only is the water being stolen, but it is left to run continuously 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and this has been going on for months, if not years. He said this in reference to luscious green grass surrounding the point of theft. Levin said, “There is also massive water theft at the Kempton Park taxi rank, only there, the thieves are selling the water to the public. This is not the first time that I have alerted Rand Water and yourselves [Sandton Chronicle] regarding water theft.
“I alerted them some time ago about a similar situation opposite the Sunninghill taxi rank, just two kilometres away. That leak took several months to fix.” He said he found it difficult to believe that these were the only three spots in the country where this was happening. “It is obviously rampant throughout the country,” Levin said.
He also said that Joburg Water managing director Lungile Dhlamini should – instead of introducing water restrictions on the paying public like himself, who has paid for water for over 40 years – put a stop to the massive theft of water.
“Why is he targeting the paying public. [Dhlamini] says the public must use water sparingly and not water their gardens between 6am and 6pm. Sorry Mr Dhlamini, you must target the thieves and the incompetent individuals you employ who must stop the water running 24/7 in Woodmead and elsewhere,” Levin exclaimed.
He also said Dhlamini must disclose what the state of Rand Water Board structure is so that the paying public can establish who is to blame for this water crisis. “Come clean, Mr Dhlamini, let the public know who is to blame,” Levin said.
Joburg Water spokesperson, David Sibiya, said they had sent a team to investigate the leak at the corner of Woodmead and Woodlands drives opposite the Woodmead Value Mart, and upon investigation, an internal leak in the meter was found and was fixed.
“Johannesburg Water would like to urge residents to work with us in conserving water by reporting leaks that they see so that a team can be sent out to do repairs as soon as possible,” Sibiya said.
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