454 hours of non-service from Joburg Water

In Kommandeur Street, Witpoortjie, resident Morné* has been waiting for service delivery for over 454 hours.

This follows a leak in or near his water meter that he has been reporting for the past few months. After each instance of disappointing non-service, Morné attempts to fix the problem himself and continues his everyday activities. Then the water pushes up and spills over onto his driveway again, and his struggle continues.

After reporting the latest leak that occurred, Morné has been waiting patiently for over 400 hours for Joburg Water to send repairmen out to assess the situation and mend it – until Tuesday 12 November when he realised his case was hopeless. He put up a sign outside his house explaining the water spillage.

“Moedeloos,” he wrote on the white board he put up, “water leak reported 430 hours ago.”

“Hundreds of rands for phone calls.

“Promises, promises, promises.”

He reported his problem for the third time on Friday 25 October.

“I’ve spent hundreds of rands holding on for 20 to 30 minutes each time I phoned to find someone who can assist me.

“Whatever the leak is, it’s making the meter run extremely high. I’ve paid up to R1 500 more in utilities in a month’s time,” he told the Record, showing the bills to prove it.

On Monday 11 November he once again called the Joburg Water number that is printed on the bill (011 375 5555), and finally demanded to speak to someone with some level of authority.

“I ended up speaking to floor manager Themba Mokoena who promised me that before dusk, a vehicle would be sent to my house, even if he had to reroute its schedule for the day.

“It is now the next morning, and still no service delivery,” he complained to the Record at his residence on Tuesday 14 November.

“Mokoena made ridiculous statements, claiming, and I quote, that their ‘turnaround time is 48 hours’ and that he ‘understands we must save water’.”

The Record followed the same route by calling the general Joburg Water number and eventually reached Matimba Nkuna, one of four operational managers.

He confirmed that the matter was escalated to the depot on Thursday 7 November.

“The team, including a plumber, was supposed to head out to his property on Friday 8 November but my system shows that it never happened.”

Nkuna was, however, not the manager in charge of this query and later referred the Record to Jannie Kempenaar, who wasn’t available for comment.