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 \u201cclosed\u201d by the City as work completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a desperate plea to the media the \u201cmissing\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt took two weeks for a sewer line to be found and opened, and it is quite puzzling,\u201d says resident Elfreda Crouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were unable to wash dishes or clo\u00adthing or use the showers or toilets to prevent sewerage from overflowing into our house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d says Crouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 20 April, the City had still done nothing and worries mounted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat 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\u2019t understand how complaints can be closed when the work had not been done,\u201d says Crouse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, on the 25 April, three days after Crouse turned to TygerBurger<\/em> for help, a municipal worker arrived at her home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Crouse says she was surprised to see how easily and quickly the job was done in the end. \u201cThe 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\u2019s house. I can\u2019t understand why a seemingly easy task took two weeks to complete,\u201d says Crouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to TygerBurger\u2019s<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe sewer drain was thus not visible nor accessible for maintenance purposes,\u201d said Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe 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\u2019s Customer Service Charter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He reminded residents to refrain from paving and tarring on surfaces that will interfere with the City\u2019s infrastructure and prevent access to conduct maintenance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The City did not provide further comment on the issue of service complaints being closed in this instance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 \u201cclosed\u201d by 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