• Sarah Schoonwinkel writes:
For more than 60 consecutive days the water supply to West Village has been interrupted between midnight and 06:30 every single morning.
Some mornings, the supply is a tiny trickle and other mornings, such as Saturday May 28, there was absolutely nothing. I have been fed a string of flimsy excuses, the prevailing excuse being that the cable connecting the pump at the reservoir was disconnected and removed by the West Rand Consolidated Mines as a result of an irregular Service Level Agreement apparently concluded with the previous regime – the ANC-led municipality. I am continually informed that until this SLA is formalised our water supply will not be fully restored.
Also read: LETTER: West Village the abandoned child of the municipality
My arguments in this regard are as follows:
1. West Village is a very poor little former mining village and most residents are trades people and shift workers such as nurses. These people need to leave home very early, and they would enjoy a hot shower before leaving for work. Most of us have children to assist in getting ready for school. This is quite a challenge when there is no water.
2. I rise at 04:30 to prepare for work. I have been unable to shower at that time for more than sixty consecutive days. I have paid my dues and our water account is always up to date. Why am I throwing my hard-earned money away for a service and a product I am denied ?
3. The disagreement between WRCM and the municipality is between those two entities and not the residents of West Village. I have no interest in your dispute, and neither does anybody else in West Village. All we want is the water for which we have paid.
4. For as long as this generator has to remain in use could the man being paid to switch the pump on kindly do it early enough in the morning so as to ensure that the water is actually flowing strongly by 04:00 so that those of us who need an early morning water supply could actually have that?
5. On Saturday May 28 we had no water at all and I was told that the generator had run out of diesel. Surely the man paid to operate the generator must alert the necessary person in order to obtain fuel? I was told that there had been a fuel supply problem, but after I made a huge fuss about it the fuel was delivered. Instead of sorting out the SLA, huge amounts of money are being thrown at this water problem to provide the generator and fuel it. Surely the more economical approach would be to regularise this agreement with all due speed? We are paying for this generator and the fuel. Who is benefiting from this arrangement because we certainly aren’t.
6. If the only thing standing in the way of restoring a full water supply is the regularising of the SLA then for goodness’ sake do it! Read through it, decide what is acceptable and what isn’t, sort that out and then sign the thing.
I am heartily sick of this matter and sick of the dozens of pointless emails I have sent to which I have had no responses whatsoever from anybody in the various municipal departments.
My husband and I have attempted to call the Municipal offices, and nobody answers. My husband went to the offices in Krugersdorp to find the door manned by a security guard who said he couldn’t enter but took down his name and number as well as the complaint on a piece of paper torn from a scrap envelope. Needless to say nobody from the Water Affairs office has called him.
In sheer desperation I am contacting more senior persons in the DA in an attempt to get this matter sorted out . We do not want a water tank, we do not want to hear about this SLA; what we want is the water for which we have paid for in full.
• Executive Mayor of the Mogale City Local Municipality, Councillor Tyrone Gray writes in response:
Thank you for your email Mrs Schoonwinkel, hope you are well.
Your concerns are shared by the department of utilities as the interim generator creates further pressure on the officials and department.
Firstly WRPD or West Rand Power Distributors disconnected the cable because the electricity in the area is distributed by the company and not by Mogale City. This issue stems from 2017, it was flagged that there was no agreement in place for the supply and this would be flagged as section 32 expenditure, which is unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, which carries a legislative duty to be investigated. There was never an SLA in place, just to clarify.
WRPD later disconnected their supply and took the council to court. The case is to be heard in August but I’d prefer this to be regularised before then. Hence your reference to an SLA, it would have been far better to regularise the matter in 2017, in my humble opinion.
One of the first tasks was that Mogale City installed a generator once this had been raised, showing the council cares. A meeting was held with the West Village community committee.
Secondly the acting MM at that stage was not attending to the matter and has since been put on special leave, another example of consequence management being implemented.
The incumbent Municipal Manager who officially started on May 10, 2022, has already embarked on the process to as you say regularise the SLA.
In relation to your query of Saturday, May 28, the issue was that the main diesel suppliers’ delivery was late. I personally intervened and organised fuel from another depot to run the generator, and water was reticulated. The diesel delivery arrived today and West Village was prioritised. On the day in question members from the community called me directly and the contingency plan was done, before and without taking sight of any tweet from your account. Late delivery is difficult to pre-empt, hence it’s appreciated that the residents informed me directly so that the matter could be resolved. A responsive action was immediately embarked on, and now diversifying the supply is an important contingency plan as you correctly state.
Interestingly this is the first email you have sent to me, and thank you for that as official reporting mechanisms are far better, as social media aren’t constantly attended to. Nonetheless you are welcome to use any communication channels at your disposal. I would therefore indicate that efforts are being made in the interim, until the SLA or litigation can be regularised or finalised. Furthermore the litigation causes delays in the matter as there are two or more parties to any contract, and an SLA is no different – consensus ad idem needs to be achieved.
Your concern and frustration are getting the necessary efforts to find a more permanent solution, but this is not a decision Mogale City can make alone and needs agreement.
Further the municipality is paying far more attention now to the plight of West Village which isn’t limited to water supply. There are issues with zama zamas, which put the residents in hostile and dangerous circumstances as well as severe pressure on the infrastructure. We are also procuring four tractors to save money on contractors as well as clean up the area of West Village which has been neglected for a number of years. This has further been escalated to both Gauteng Legislature requesting resources for community safety. And the petition will be taken to parliament later this year. You can support the petition motion here. If you could please share.
In relation to your husband’s dissatisfaction, as the President Building houses the water department and access is allowed for the residents I would need more detailed information such as time and dates, and who was the official or security guard who was spoken to, so that it may be investigated.
Looking forward to addressing all the developmental backlogs which were inherited from the previous administration and we will keep you updated. I understand your frustrations and concerns, and will keep following up with the departments – both legal and utilities – to see how far the process is.
