A family in Joostenbergvlakte was left without flushing toilets for two weeks during which time the City of Cape Town could not locate the blocked municipal sewer drain in the area; this despite eight service complaints that were all “closed” by the City as work completed.
After a desperate plea to the media the “missing” manhole was finally discovered and the drain unblocked. As it turns out the manhole was concealed when tarred over by a neighbour in recent years.
“It took two weeks for a sewer line to be found and opened, and it is quite puzzling,” says resident Elfreda Crouse.
“We were unable to wash dishes or clothing or use the showers or toilets to prevent sewerage from overflowing into our house.”
On 11 April after noticing that their toilets were taking longer to flush Crouse called private plumbers who confirmed that the sewage blockage was on the municipal side.
“We logged a call with the City on Monday 11 April and the next day City workers came. They confirmed that the blockage was on the municipal side and said it needed to be cleared in the sewage line. However, they could not find the sewage line on the municipal map and were unable to clear the blockage. It was possible, they said, that somebody had built or tarred on top of the manhole. The next day someone else came out with a map, but he had the wrong map. He left never to be heard of again and that was that,” says Crouse.
By 20 April, the City had still done nothing and worries mounted.
“What is most upsetting is that we phoned every day. We were given a new reference number by the City every day, just to find out the next day that the complaint was closed. This happened eight times. I don’t understand how complaints can be closed when the work had not been done,” says Crouse.
Then, on the 25 April, three days after Crouse turned to TygerBurger for help, a municipal worker arrived at her home.
Crouse says she was surprised to see how easily and quickly the job was done in the end. “The official who came out checked the terrain, phoned the City for a map, got it on her phone and immediately located the manhole, which was found under a tarred surface in front of our neighbour’s house. I can’t understand why a seemingly easy task took two weeks to complete,” says Crouse.
In response to TygerBurger’s media inquiry the City confirmed that the team who had first responded to the service request was unable to find the sewer drain due to the manhole being tarred over.
“The sewer drain was thus not visible nor accessible for maintenance purposes,” said Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien.
“The time taken to locate the buried sewer manhole resulted in the service request being responded to outside the response time in terms of the City’s Customer Service Charter,” he said.
He reminded residents to refrain from paving and tarring on surfaces that will interfere with the City’s infrastructure and prevent access to conduct maintenance.
The City did not provide further comment on the issue of service complaints being closed in this instance.
