• Sarah Schoonwinkel writes:
Good morning Mr Gray, Thank you for this letter, the contents of which are noted and, it must be pointed out, I am already aware of.
Also read: LETTER: West Village issue stems from 2017 – Mayor
While I am very happy to acknowledge that your administration has done a great deal more for Krugersdorp as a whole than the previous administration it remains a fact that West Village is largely ignored and our concerns are swept under the carpet. Had the community not stood together as we did last week to protest the lack of urgency in restoring both the electricity supply and a full water supply the likelihood is that we would still not have electricity. The fact remains that neither you nor the ward councillor managed to spare us the time for even a brief visit to explain what was happening and to let us all know that we matter.
Clearly we don’t matter enough to come and see us, and this the community knows only too well.
I know why there is a generator and I understand the current requirement for it. I know how limit switches work and when they can be implemented, and under which conditions , so I understand that the generator is manually operated. However the reservoir is not being filled at the correct times and the person operating the generator switch (surely not a terribly onerous task !) is lacking in diligence.
How hard can it be to have that generator switched on in time for the reservoir to fill before the West Village community needs to begin our day? As I have mentioned ad nauseam most of our residents are shift workers and leave long before the reservoir has filled. I myself am walking out of the door before the water supply is at full stream.
Until this matter is satisfactorily resolved I will not stop badgering you, as the Mayor of our city and ultimately the responsible person, for the results we need. The results we deserve in fact ! As the Facilities Manager here where I work the phrase I never use is “It’s not my fault the job isn’t complete “.
If the job isn’t complete it is my fault because I am the ultimate authority and responsible person. There is nobody else I can blame for work not satisfactorily completed. This is an approach you will need to learn how to adopt because regardless of whether or not your lily-white fingers pressed that button to switch on the generator which then powers the pump which in turn provides us with water, you are the responsible person.
The fact that West Village does not have water every single morning is your responsibility. All you need to do to keep us happy is get the man switching the generator on to do so earlier than he currently does, and keep doing that until this court case resolves this impasse on a permanent basis. This is why you have the high status job and earn the big bucks.
Once again I thank you for your letter, better late than never, and believe me I will give credit where it is due, but only once it is due. And it’s now one hundred days and counting.
