Local councillors not happy with the state of Mamelodi reservoir

Local ward councillors and volunteers took it upon themselves to clean and cut overgrown grass at the Mamelodi reservoir last Friday.

However, the ward councillors were not happy with the state of the reservoirs and what they found.

Councillor Absolom Rabasotho said the clean-up campaign of the reservoir is an initiative by Mamelodi councillors.

“Our aim was to cut overgrown grass surrounding the reservoir and create easy access for Tshwane officials to come to the reservoir as and when required.”

The reservoir supplies Mamelodi residents with water, but it has been neglected and vandalised, and there is no security to safely guard the area.

For the past four years, residents of Mamelodi, especially Ikageng residents, have been complaining about water shortages caused by illegal connections by land invaders next to the reservoir.

“Tshwane metro has created a big problem for residents of Mamelodi by removing security at a critical asset of the municipality like the reservoir,” said Rabosotho.

He said the reservoir is exposed to acts of criminality and vandalism.

The area where water valves are located is completely open, and according to Rabasotho, anyone just comes there to open and close the valves as they wish.

“The water valves must be accessible only to experts who know what they are doing.

“At the moment, anyone can tamper with these valves, and as a result, residents will experience burst water pipes,” said Rabasotho.

“The matter was reported to the metro, but nothing has been done about it, and it was reported again last December. Up until now, we are still waiting for action by the municipality.

“Tshwane has no intention of resolving the reservoir issue or servicing it.”

Ward 67 Councillor Wesizwe Tsiane said the following: “The municipality is failing us by exposing the reservoir to acts of vandalism, which lead to burst pipes and shortages of water in the township.

“This has led councillors to take it upon themselves to clean the area, using their own money to buy food and water for the residents who have volunteered to help us clean the reservoir area.”

Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink recently spoke at a media briefing about the water crisis in Mamelodi.

He said water is mostly available at night.

“So people have to get up in the middle of the night to get water.

“We need to address this by disconnecting illegal water connections, but we will need the community on our side.”

He also said that in their long-term capital planning, there is a potential second reservoir for Mamelodi residents.

“The problem we have is you can’t secure reservoirs 3 and 4 and make sure that there aren’t illegal taps into them,” said Brink.

“It’s complete waste to build the second reservoir; we have to have mobility to control and protect our infrastructure.

“We depend on the police to do that, which is not to say we have given up.

“Tshwane is very committed, even if we have to do it with our own metro police, because if we don’t do it, the crisis won’t go away,” he said.

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