A meeting was held on January 11 for Glenvista Extension Four residents who are up in arms after receiving a notification via WhatsApp informing them their water may be cut off.
The WhatsApp came from Jaques van Rensburg (community liasion officer Phase Three) on January 6, stating: “I have to notify you, Glenvista 4 may be without water due to non-payment to workers from last year. All relevant Clrs are aware of this as well as reporter Tara Penny (EWN) and I have informed the president’s office as well. The water will only be restored once they get paid. Joburg Water is now only releasing payment on January 15 to the contractor and that payment has to go through two different accounts within the company, which may mean they will only receive payment on January 21.”
This caused a massive outcry from concerned residents worried about having no water at all for over a week.
“This is a threat and I don’t see why we as residents should suffer because of workers not receiving their salaries. This has absolutely nothing to do with us,” said one angry resident.
Still no ‘happy letters’
Last year on February 9, a public meeting for Glenvista Ext Four residents was held, outlining plans for an upgrade in the water pipes, headed by Ward 23 councillor Sarah Wissler, as well as representatives from Joburg Water and site contractors.
Residents at the meeting last year were asked to be patient for the next six months while the work was being done.
“It’s nearly a year since work began and we are not at all happy with what has transpired. It was supposed to be completed by August 3 and the project still isn’t finished.
“We were promised we would have to sign off on ‘happy letters’ once we were satisfied with the finished job and our pavements were back to the way they were before the work began.
“We still haven’t received any ‘happy letters’ and we are definitely not happy,” residents at the meeting stressed.
Van Rensburg, who set up the meeting on January 11, invited social facilitator consultants for Joburg Water Duke Mahanya and Siyabulela Cikolo, Godfrey Molema (Thamandla Construction), who was awarded the tender and councillor Wissler. Councillor Rashida Landis (Ward 55 whip for Joburg Constituency) and PR councillor Tyrell Meyers were invited by the provincial office.
Wissler declined the invitation, saying she had called another meeting regarding another problem in her ward on the same day at the same time.
“Where is Wissler?” asked the angry residents. “Why is she avoiding this meeting?”
Lack of finance
Wendy Harrop, one of the residents, raised questions with Molema, asking him why his workers weren’t paid.
“At the beginning phase of this project you tendered for the project. Did Joburg Water receive the completion papers for the project and why aren’t you paying your workers?”
Molema said: “Yes, it is true not all phases of the project are finished and we do have financial problems, which started last year.
“We had to cease work sometimes last year because of lack of finance, but we began work again once the workers were paid.
“We are aware you residents were threatened with having your water cut off and we deeply regret that.”
According to Molema, Joburg Water has their processes to pay out to contractors and because of submitting documents late for payment, the workers didn’t receive their salaries before Christmas.
Residents suggested Molema should leave this project so another contractor who is financially secure enough to finish the project can take over.
“What guarantees do we have as residents that workers won’t threaten again to cut off our water?” asked a resident.
Follow-up meeting
Aggrieved residents asked for another meeting to be organised as soon as possible to get to the bottom of the matter.
Mahanga and Cikolo said they would take the residents’ grievances to Joburg Water and suggest a meeting be held soonest.
On January 15, van Rensburg received notice from Mahanya saying grievances regarding reinstatement of driveways and pavements have been forwarded to Sedzani (chief engineer for the entire project) and the residents’ request for a follow-up meeting have been communicated to the relevant parties.
Wissler advised she must be involved in the coordination of the follow-up meeting and she will attend the meeting.
On January 16, van Rensburg was inundated with calls asking what is going on with the WhatsApp group (Glenvista 4 Water Project). As per Wissler, she has changed the group settings to only admins allowed to send messages to this group.
“This is ridiculous, she has taken away the voices of the residents. Surely they are allowed to voice their concerns,” added van Rensburg.
