A furrow on a road in Linden has been left unattended for more than a year, yet it is one of 7 000 still to be repaired in Joburg.
Resident Ilse Britz reported the furrow on 7th Street in January, claiming it had been dug by Joburg Water early last year and was never restored. However, Ward 99 councillor Nicole van Dyk believes it may be even older.
“I think it actually goes back to 2021 but I am not sure,” she said. “Reinstatements are a massive problem in the ward and across Joburg. There are so many and some are about two years old now.”
The reinstatement of a road is what is required by Joburg Water after water or sewage from a burst pipe breaks up the tar, or the utility’s teams have to dig up a section of a road to reach a pipe. This is different from a standard road repair, the filling of a pothole, or a full resurfacing of a road, which the Joburg Roads Agency sees to.
Also read: Joburg Water commits to completing reinstatements in the City
“With reinstatements, we see many residents not logging them with sufficient descriptions. There is a queue of 7 000 reinstatements in the City and only three teams doing them. When the municipality sends a team to repair a reported road, they find out it is a reinstatement and more work is required, which the team is not equipped to do, or the wrong department is there.”
Cars have to slow down to a crawl to cross this dug-up section on 7th Street. There has been an increase in traffic, not so much on the road itself but because of motorists taking alternative routes.
Questions were sent to Joburg Water spokesperson Nolwazi Dhlamini on May 3 relating to when the water pipe burst, why there had been such a delay in this reinstatement, and how long residents should expect to wait for reinstatements after burst pipes. Her comments will be published as soon as they are made.
