Water woes in the community of Macassar, which irked residents over a period of two days last week, were mostly resolved over the weekend, but the community remains adamant they should be accorded the same response levels as that of the Somerset West community by the City of Cape Town when experiencing water-supply disruptions.
Residents were referring to Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis’ visit to address residents of Somerset West to explain the water supply challenges last Monday (30 January), saying the mayor failed to do so with Macassar residents, who were also without water (“City steps in to address water issues”, DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette, 1 February).
According to residents, water supply was disrupted in the early hours of Thursday morning (2 February), and remained off for more than 24 hours.
“It was a dire situation and no-one knew what was being done to fix it due to a lack of communication from the City,” community activist Christiaan Stewart claimed.
He explained old-age homes, parents with babies and schools were severely impacted, as water tankers failed to be despatched effectively in the area.
“It was only at 13:30 that a single water tanker arrived in the area and another arrived only at 17:30,” said Stewart. “But both these trucks could not cover the entire area and the majority of residents did not receive any water.”
He cited areas such as Marvin Park, Deep Freeze, Riverside, Smarty Town, Macassar Village, Kramat and Sandvlei, which were not covered by the water tankers.
Schools in Macassar reportedly closed at 12:30 on Thursday due to the school toilets’ inability to flush, resulting in overflow.
Siseko Mbandezi, the City’s Acting Mayoral Committee member for Water and Sanitation, explained that the controlling float valve, which allows water to flow into the local reservoir, was stuck, meaning the reservoir didn’t fill up as per normal operation, and was therefore unable to supply water into the distribution network.
“The matter has since been resolved and the float valve mechanism has been repaired,” he said, adding that with water supply disruptions experienced elsewhere in the city, only the two water tankers were available at the time, and some of the other tankers were in for repairs.
“Our engineering and asset management section is in process of installing a telemetry system at the reservoir. This would relay reservoir control information and also serve as an early warning system should anything go wrong at the reservoir.”
According to resident Waseema Flaendorp, there was a lack of proper engagement between the City and residents, and there was a general feeling that all communities are not treated equally.
“We have problems with power outages and now there are water problems. We don’t understand why it took so long for a water tanker to arrive; we had no water the whole day. We voted for the same mayor as Somerset West residents, so why are we treated differently?”
Lyndon Khan, mayoral spokesperson, responded: “Any requests for the mayor to address community issues are welcome and may be submitted to his office.”
