Protea Glen residents lock horns with Joburg Water
Residents fire back at Joburg Water.
Tensions were high as ward 14 councillor held a public meeting last Sunday in Protea Glen Ext 4 as the community demanded better service from Johannesburg Water.
Councillor Makapane Mokwena invited officials from Johannesburg Water and Pikitup to give residents an opportunity to raise the burning issues they have with the departments.
Some of the biggest issues the community raised were the proximity of prepaid water vendors from their homes and the amount that an individual is charged for tampering with the prepaid water box which has escalated from R6000 to R15 000 without notice to the community according to Mokwena.
“Where are we supposed to buy water? Services are supposed to come to us, we shouldn’t go searching for them. They should have an office here instead of us constantly calling [their call centres] where we get rude responses.
“The boxes are also faulty but they are very quick to come with Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) to cut our water off. I think it would be better if they came with JMPD to take these boxes of theirs!” said community member, Peter Mokoena.
Another community member, Trudy Jabavu, also expressed that the service they receive when they contact the call centres is “rude and unacceptable”. Joburg Water official, Lebogang Phalane urged the community to build a partnership with the municipal office in order to root out the bad apples that are providing an inadequate service to the community.
Civic education was another pertinent point in the meeting as residents feel that they do not have enough knowledge on how the water prepaid meter works and how to deal with leaking sewers correctly in the event that technicians from Joburg Water cannot attend to the matter immediately.
Residents also expressed great concern regarding the sewer systems in the area which are constantly problematic according to them.
Joburg Water has promised to escalate the residents’ concerns to the relevant parties and work closely with ward 14 councillor, Mokwena to make sure they are fixed.
Mokwena appealed to residents who qualify for the Expanded Social Package (ESP) to come to the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) office to apply.
“You can come with your ID, three months bank statement and then you register for the ESP. Alternatively, you can go get an affidavit at the police station and bring that with your ID,” he explained.
He, however, noted with concern the misconceptions people, particularly the elderly, have about the ESP benefits.
“Once they have registered, they expect their next statement to say R0.00 but that’s not how it works. They cut it gradually not all at once but it’s a matter of civic education,” concluded Mokwena.
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