Welties – tired of burst pipes and no power

Burst pipes, water outages, power outages have left residents furious by the apparent careless work being done by Vumatel.

This is the case with the recent upheaval suffered by the community of Weltevreden Park.

Vumatel has been trenching the area to lay Vuma fibre cabling for open access high-speed broadband connectivity. Much like the issues that were seen in Blairgowrie when fibre was introduced, many water pipes and power cables were damaged during trenching.

In just this week, two water pipes burst in Amarant and Wildebraam streets. This has resulted in a huge water wastage. With the serious threat of water shedding and the already implemented water throttling due to South Africa’s severe drought, it is obvious why residents are up in arms.

Neil McWillliams, manager at Vumatel, said, “We do our best not to hit services but we cannot guarantee it as there are a number of variables at play.”
McWilliams explained that Vumatel is liable for the damage but not responsible for repairing the issue – the onus lies with the utility provider. “We will log a fault and use accredited sub-contractors to try and speed up the process … we do our best to drive the repair and ensure it is completed in the shortest possible timeframe,” said McWilliams.

City Power spokesperson Hloni Motloung said, “City Power and six telecommunication providers, have agreed to implement a number of resolutions in order to minimise electricity supply disruptions to the residents of Weltevreden Park and to ensure the safety of contractors trenching in the area.”
He added this agreement follows a series of unplanned power cuts in the area resulting from damaged electricity cables when trenching have occured as aging cables are susceptible to damage and also pose a safety hazard to contractors who may be electrocuted.

Vumatel or other telecommunication providers are supplied with way leaves from the City of Johannesburg. This identifies where power cables or water pipes are. According to both Vumatel and City Power, the way leaves are often outdated or slightly incorrect. “We do scan areas before trenching to get an idea of the area,” added McWilliams.

On 7 November, Vumatel made the call to delay the start of construction in the area as they felt that they would not have enough time to complete the project before the festive season.
Johannesburg Roads Agency implements a month-long shutdown over the December period. Johannesburg Water and City Power also operate a skeleton staff, which means damages will take longer to fix.

Tevesh Pather, the Vumatel area manager, said, “[We] are aiming to finish all civil work on the current phases we are working on by the shutdown period.”

Details: Vumatel, weltevredenpark@vumatel.co.za or 086 100 8862.