Cape Town – A Cape Flats community is upset after a burst pipe gushed water for nearly two days before the City of Cape Town sent a team to repair it.
Residents of Grace Court in Heideveld say thousands of litres of clean drinking water was wasted after the pipe burst on Sunday just after 4pm.
They reported the matter but got no joy, and on Tuesday morning, the people called the Daily Voice for help.
Within hours of a Daily Voice enquiry, the City sent a team to fix the pipe on Tuesday afternoon.
Residents say the City should be held accountable for wastage in the face of a crippling drought.
Pensioner Fatima de Jongh, 63, says she was napping when she heard people screaming that the pipe under the flat’s stairs had burst.
“We contacted the City office and they sent a van out, but those guys left and said they do not do maintenance outside the homes and promised to send someone. Meanwhile spyt die water," she says. (We contacted the City office and they sent a van out, but those guys left and said they do not do maintenance outside the homes and promised to send someone. Meanwhile the water is gushing out.)
“The neighbours brought their bins and buckets, we saved as much as we could and watered the vegetable gardens.”
She says her nephew, Rafiq Jansen, 23, tried to stop the flow with a bread packet and a cloth.
"I had to McGuyver the pipe quickly for my aunty. There is a massive water shortage in the province and these people took their time to come out and fix the problem,” says Rafiq.
When the Daily Voice arrived at Grace Court on Tuesday, 11 City workers were fixing the pipe.
Asked for a reply, a City spokesperson said the problem had been fixed already and they wouldn’t be issuing a statement.