It is with concern that we note the hooliganism that took place en route to the Sandspruit Works Association (SWA), formerly known as Odi Water Retail Services, yesterday and reiterate that vandalism and destruction or the threat thereof are not the tools for solving service delivery challenges.
At the same time, we understand the extremely difficult situation of the residents of the area caused by sewer blockages. The SWA provides water, sanitation and related services to areas such as Mabopane, Winterveldt and Ga-rankuwa, colloquially known as Mawiga.
The City of Tshwane is taking steps to rectify the situation, but the actions of the residents only delay the implementation of corrective processes. As such we encourage residents to cooperate with the City administration in this regard so that we can fix the mess created by the former administration and in so doing bring about the change for better services that our residents need.
“As is well known, services delivered by SWA have not been satisfactory under the previous administration, and the City is busy winding down the operations of SWA, and employees will be absorbed into the Water and Sanitation Department of the City, where service delivery standards will meet those enjoyed by the rest of the City”, MMC for Services Infrastructure Darryl Moss said.
Big Eye, a contractor employed by SWA for services of sewer unblocking have not performed satisfactorily, and have been instructed to carry out their service duties or have their contact terminated. They returned to work last week, and sewers are now being unblocked.
The City obtained the services of a high pressure cleaner, which is now being used to unblock sewers where normal rodding cannot be used.
“We are aware of the fact that much of the sewer network should have been replaced over the last few years, and have been busy with a CCTV pipe survey to determine what sewers need replacing. There are 4 768 meters of pipe rehabilitation needed in Unit 7 and 40 meters in Unit 9 identified for rehabilitation. Unit 21 has good coverage of CCTV and doesn’t show any critical lines to rehabilitate. A tender is being prepared for the appointment of contractors to do the pipe rehabilitation,” Moss said.
It should thus be clear that the new administration is busy sorting out the past lack of infrastructure rehabilitation in the sewer network, and that residents would soon be receiving the quality services they deserve.
Together we can bring the change needed to provide better services for the residents of Tshwane.