Thousands of litres of clean water spilling onto Uitenhage street

Residents of KwaNobuhle township in Uitenhage are watching helplessly as thousands of litres of clean water leak away from a broken underground pipe while the authorities do nothing about it.

Resident Lungelwa Mbengashe said the water had been leaking from the pipe since January.

She had reported it five times to the municipal toll free number and been told technicians would be sent, but no one had come.

The water is spilling over to her neighbour’s house. “It’s running from my yard to my neighbour’s yard and our kitchen floors are wet,” said Mbengashe.

She said she had reported the matter to ward 46 councillor Lindelwa Qukubana (ANC) last Thursday and also to ward 47 councillor Nontuthuzelo Skweyiya (ANC).

Both councillors confirmed that the problem had been reported to them and said they had contacted the municipality.

“We have escalated it to the relevant department as usual, hoping that the problem will be sorted out soon,” said Qukubana.

“I did speak to the woman in the affected house last week and I walked in her yard and saw the problem,” said Skweyiya. “I also took the matter to the municipality’s RRTT (Rapid Response Task Team).

But municipal spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki said on Wednesday that the problem had only been reported to the municipality on Monday. The infrastructure and engineering department was dealing with the matter, he said. “We hope that the problem will be fixed quickly.”

Mbengashe’s neighbour, Nontembiso Maphela, said when she returned from her holiday in January, her yard was muddy. “I saw my neighbour had dug trenches to allow water to pass onto the tarred road … The water is now causing potholes on busy Siwasa Street,” she said.

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