Tempers rise over Glenhills water

As Cape Town faces Day Zero in its water crisis, emotions are running high in Glenhills, Stanger, where water supply has been intermittent at best for two months.

A public meeting to discuss water interruptions last week reached boiling point when ward 13 councillor Rabi Singh called out residents and the Glenhills Civic Association for “disrespectful” comments posted on social media regarding service delivery.

Also read: High and dry in Glenhills

Residents have been experiencing water shortages for most of December and January and together with the Civic Association headed by Rishi Pooran, have been demanding urgent action from Ilembe Municipality.

Pooran told the Courier that water shortages and disruptions were a regular occurrence and that for most residents the festive season and their time at home were ruined by not having water or dealing with a low-pressure flow.

After numerous complaints to councillor Singh and on social media, a community meeting was held last Sunday at the Glenhills Resource Centre to give feedback to the community on service delivery.

Officials from Ilembe and KwaDukuza municipality including Ilembe mayor Sduduzo Gumede and KwaDukuza deputy mayor Dolly Govender, were meant to explain to more than 500 residents who showed up to the meeting, the reasons behind the water interruptions that had been taking place since the festive season.

However, nearly two hours of the meeting had been spent reprimanding drunk residents, reading through social media comments made by people about service delivery that councillor Singh said “distracted the minds of councillors” and arguing about the civic association.

Members of the association later stormed out of the meeting after a heated confrontation with the councillor when he said they had been operating irregularly.

Councillor Singh also warned residents that officials were not controlled or elected by people who abuse Facebook. He threatened to “deal with them very seriously.”

Ilembe municipality water service director Elias Bengu later explained that Ilembe’s ageing infrastructure was the main cause of water interruptions.

“Water is conveyed to different areas by pipelines. Some of these pipes are 65 years old and made out of materials like cement and asbestos that were used back in the day. Ideally, the pipes should be made using steel or plastic.

“The problem we facing is that when these pipes break, we are unable to get the same ones or the same size because they are not made anymore.”

Bengu said there were a large number of leaks due to illegal water connections.

“Bush plumbers interfere and butcher our infrastructure by tampering with it. We then have to fix these leaks without interfering with other pipes that are still working. Sometimes it takes hours to do this.”

Mayor Sduduzo Gumede assured residents that the interruptions were not due to a lack of finance and disbanded rumours that Glenhills was not a priority. The municipality is currently looking into systems that do not involve pumping water to different areas in an attempt to save electricity.

Residents were encouraged to convey messages of leaks and water interruptions to ward committee members and the ward councillor, as the Ilembe call centre often experiences high call volumes.

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