Upper Houghton resident has been pleading for two years for stormwater drains to be covered

Upper Houghton resident Cynthia Geffen’s two-year plea for stormwater drains outside her gate to be covered has been falling on deaf ears.

Geffen approached the Gazette on May 17. “I first reported the open stormwater drains at the beginning of December 2020, again in November 2021 to give them time to respond. On February 2 last year, I called the Johannesburg Roads Agency [JRA] hotline and followed that up with another call on February 9 as well an email which was never acknowledged,” she told the publication.

She added her home was situated between King Edward School and St Johns College, and the stormwater drains posed a danger to the learners of these schools as they walked along this route.

Ward 67 councillor David Modupi said although he was not aware of these exposed stormwater drains on Ash Street, he had escalated similar queries to the JRA.

“I have been escalating the matter with the JRA, and I can tell you that I am not receiving joy from that entity. As councillors in Region F, we have raised our frustrations in our service delivery councillors forum meetings, regarding the poor responsiveness and service delivery backlog of JRA, and the response is that they are short-staffed and also underbudgeted,” he said.

JRA spokesperson Bertha Peters-Scheepers said according to their records, the issue was logged on April 14 and was on their works list.
“There are several channels to report road-related defects to JRA. We sincerely apologise for the delay in finalising this service request dating to the Covid-19 period when JRA was not fully operational.”

Peters-Scheepers noted that within the next fortnight, JRA would finalise its inspection and repair the collapsed drains and the manhole covers would also be replaced, however, this was dependent on the stock availability of these covers.

Geffen also complained of two water meters on the road outside her property which were leaking and have not been attended to despite reporting them.

In response to this issue, Johannesburg Water communications officer Nolwazi Dhlamini said, “For the reference number: 8005792791 this was reported on 22 October last year and attended to on October 24 where the team fixed the fire hydrant – 8005821521 and 8005836180e were reported and attended to and no defect was found. For the reference number 8005845433, this was reported on December 8 last year and attended to on December 9 where the team found a blocked stormwater drain at the corner of Ash Street and St David Road at Houghton Estate and the job was referred to the Johannesburg Roads Agency.”

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