AfriForum’s Westonaria branch and other residents strongly criticised claims made of poor service delivery in Venterspos.
Esther Swart, the AfriForum Westonaria Branch chairperson said in a statement issued on Tuesday, 9 April, “We have never been without water for a month as alleged, and the power problems were caused by vandalism. The municipality and Eskom worked non-stop for two days to restore the power supply. It is true that Randfontein was prioritised because of its emergency services such as hospitals.
“Refuse removal is done regularly and any problem is addressed as it occurs. In addition, everybody was kept up to date with whatever the municipality and Eskom were doing to address the issues.
“Regarding the complaints about the road, it was closed years ago, firstly for safety reasons (sink holes) and to prevent it from being used as an escape route, and secondly to ensure our personal safety. The night of the shooting incident people from that side of our small town disappeared. We saw it fit to block the road to prevent the zama-zamas and other dangerous elements – which are causing serious problems in our community – from driving on that road by car.
“The grass in our town has been cut and they are currently busy in other areas. I have already contacted the Parks Department in this regard to request further assistance. The rain during the past few days also hampered their work, something the two residents failed to mention.
“We as the Venterspos community thank the municipality and Eskom for helping us with our electricity-related issues during those two days. The men worked long hours to solve the problems. Our community and the entire Westonaria know we can depend on you.”
Several residents have also approached the Herald indicating that they are happy with the municipality.
One such resident, Cindy Mienie said, “We are satisfied with the municipality as far as the water and electricity are concerned”.
#MunicipalMonday: Residents of Venterpos reach boiling point
Residents of Venterspos said they have reached boiling point when it comes to issues involving the municipality.
Constant power and water outages as well as a lack of maintenance are some of the issues residents raised with the Herald on Monday, 8 April.
One of their recent predicaments, the residents said, was being without power for 30 hours. Nobody, not even the municipality provided them with straight answers about the outage.
Demi van Wyk said she went to the municipality to report the power outage but was directed to another department where she was told there was no security at the power substation.
“They told me that they didn’t know what was going on, therefore they could not answer my questions,” Van Wyk said.
Describing the situation as bad, Van Wyk added that the people of Venterspos are fed up.
“Our main concern in this area is that there is no maintenance. The electricity is giving us a lot of problems and at one point we went without any water for a month. They did not even send water trucks and we had to make our own plans to get water,” she said. She added that their refuse is not collected on a regular basis.
Burst pipes in Venterspos are some of the issues upsetting residents. Kruger said adding to their frustration is that the community does not know the reason for any of this, as there is a lack of communication.
“Especially elderly people, the disabled and children are affected by these problems. What is even more upsetting is that the Randfontein substation exploded this past Saturday but they get to have the power back on quickly while we have to sit without power for days. People are gatvol,” Van Wyk concluded.
