Residents of a home in Buys Street in Westenburg suffered major upset after a municipal water pipe in Whitehead Street burst on Monday night and released litres of water onto the latter stand and through some of the rooms of their house.
When Polokwane Observer visited the scene at 05:10 on Tuesday owner of the flooded house, Leah Jacobs said that the pipe burst around 23:00 and that the municipality has not responded as yet, despite the fact that the matter was reported. “We have suffered a lot of damage to our property and the children must go to school today,” Jacobs said.
Communications and Marketing Manager of Polokwane Municipality, Matshidiso Mothapo said that the municipality’s records indicated that the first report was received at 03:02, followed by a call out to the foreman at 03:15 to dispatch a team to repair the burst pipe. Another report just after 05:00 reflected that the team was already on site.
“The public need to be made aware that when the team arrives the first thing they do is to close off the valves in the area before they even go to the burst line scene.
This is to allow the water to drain from the line so that they can repair it. This leaves the impression that the team is not responsive whilst they are already attending to the problem,” Mothapo explained.
Story & photos: BARRY VILJOEN
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