Vumatel takes responsibility

Ward 89 councillor, Amelia Bester met with Vumatel founder and COO, Johan Pretorius outside Panorama Primary School to discuss power and water supplies in the area that are being affected by Vumatel digging trenches in the area.
Bester said that she and the residents of the area are disappointed in the way things were handled from Vumatel’s side.
Pretorius explained that in the Panorama area, 54km of trenches have to be dug up to install the fibre optics and that about 40km of cables have been laid already. “We expect for civil construction to be done by end of November,” said Pretorius.
He explained that wayleaves issued by Joburg Roads Agency show Vumatel where water pipes and power cables are located and how deep. Vumatel also performs scans of the roads and road crossings, and dig pilot holes to identify the services to mitigate the risks of construction.
“We do all of this to mitigate the risk but a certain level of uncertainty remains as scans and wayleaves cannot be relied on completely,” said Pretorius.
Bester commented that, in theory, this sounds good, but there have been various issues in the area with services being cut off.

Pretorius added that there have been six major issues in the area thus far related to Vumatel. “What are you doing to mitigate the risks?” asked Bester.
Pretorius replied that the majority occurred during drilling and they are working closely with the service providers to repair damages if they occur. He added that two of the issues could be contributed to human error on the operator’s side. He said that one of the issues was that one of their contractors had a problem, but he has been removed from the project and will receive retraining.
Pretorius told Bester that Vumatel will take full responsibility for the issues caused and have them repaired and told Bester that she can come to him with any issues.
Bester wanted to know if Vumatel will be issued any fines if they continue to disrupt services and Pretorius explained that they are responsible for the invoices from service providers if any of the services are damaged.
“We need Vumatel to be more hands on,” said Bester. She added that apart from services being affected, the areas being dug up pose a safety hazard as the primary school is close by.
Pretorius promised that he will have someone from the Health and Safety Department have a look at the state of the work sites. “I apologise for the inconvenience.”
Bester indicated that not all residents have received the communication regarding the placement of the fibre boxes. Pretorius said that should anyone have a concern with the location of their wall box, to send their contact details to weltevredenpark@vumatel.co.za