Republic Road in complete shambles

Ward 98 councillor Beverley Jacobs is frustrated and concerned about the pipe bursts and water leak issues that have led to a section of Republic Road being closed between Countesses and Viscount avenues.

Johannesburg Water has excavated this section of the road to repair the leaks. The excavation has since filled up with water.
Although the road is closed off, Jacobs has raised safety concerns for pedestrians and feels the area is not secured properly.

Motorists have to detour into Windsor to rejoin Republic Road via Lords Avenue. There is also a new leak at the corner of Earls Avenue and Republic Road.
Jacobs said the new leak started a few weeks ago and it was disheartening to see the wasted water considering that some residents did not have water for five to eight days.
“Residents have reported this and I have escalated the matter, but nothing has been done by Joburg Water. The infrastructure is old, and these leaks will carry on. The city needs to make money available and fix the pipes as we have been crying for years.”

She added they had been promised for months that a contractor would be appointed to fix this section of Republic Road, but nothing had been done.
“I will continue to bring this issue up with the city and hopefully they will realise that this is an emergency.”
Nombuso Shabalala, the spokesperson for Joburg Water said repairs on this water pipe had been started. However, during the excavation process while in search of the leak, they discovered that the leak was on the 711mm pipeline that supplies various reservoirs. Therefore, to carry out the work, extensive planning must first be conducted.

“There is a combination of factors that may cause water pipes to burst. Some of the causes include fluctuations in working and residual pressures due to time of day, demand, usage, and/or ageing infrastructure, etc. The work that needs to be conducted is complex repair work, which requires us to isolate (close) water. This will impact several systems, including the Linden 1 and 2 reservoirs and others.”

She added the systems in turn feed a huge supply zone, which consists of many suburbs, therefore, a large number of areas would be affected.
Asked about Jacobs’ safety concerns, Shabalala said the area had been securely barricaded with yellow barricading nets which were visible.
“The biggest challenge we face is theft and vandalism of infrastructure, including the theft of the barricading material. That is the reason we frequently monitor the sites to ensure that barricading material is replaced as and when necessary. The area is dangerous, and we erected a net to safeguard the site. We plead with the community and pedestrians to refrain from coming close to the area as we are still planning to repair the leak.”

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