City of Tshwane MMC for Utility Frans Boshielo photo by Dimakatso Modipa
MMC for Utilities in the City of Tshwane Frans Boshielo has reassured residents of Soshanguve that all is well now with water supply in the area.
In a statement sent to Tshwane Talks on Tuesday, Boshielo still urged the residents to use water sparingly.
“The recent intervention at the Soshanguve L Reservoir has delivered positive results as the team has successfully restored the reservoir to the levels sufficient for pumping at the tower zone,” said Boshielo confidently.
“Pumping to the tower zone commenced at 11 last night( Monday) and water supply has since resumed across all areas within the tower zone and the tower itself is now operating at a healthy level and the City kindly urges residents in the areas supplied by the Soshanguve L Reservoir to continue using water sparingly,” he said.
He admitted that while water supply has resumed in Soshanguve, the water network still needs to fill up and reach full pressure and that some areas may therefore experience delays regarding full recovery of water supply.
On Monday Tshwane Talks was inundated with several indignant complaints from residents of Soshanguve regarding the ever-occuring water crisis in their area.
“There was a time whereby residents who are now affected by the present water crisis have had to live without water for three to four weeks in recent times,” said an irate Soshanguve resident.
“At an Imbizo held at Halala Community Hall last year in May, the City Mayor and MMC for Utilities Frans Boshielo promised residents that they’ll install a new pressure pump at Soshanguve L Tower reservoir but this has not been done and all that we get from them are false updates and lame apologies for the inconvenience caused by the water crisis,” she added.
Another resident said the amount of money spent on water tankers should instead be used to find a permanent solution regarding the dilemma faced by Soshanguve residents regarding water supply.
She pointed out that residents of Soshanguve have all along been getting their water supply from the L Tower reservoir since 1974 without any problems at all and if the Municipality wants to blame over-consumption caused by population growth then they (the Municipality) must make the necessary provisions since they know the cause of the water crisis.
“During the week they give us water but come Friday the supply is stopped for the whole weekend and will only resume on a Monday,” said another resident.
“The L Tower reservoir is a playground of the City of Tshwane Municipality; why don’t they just replace the old pump with a new one?” said yet another resident.
“I think it is time we took action about this situation because we are not being taken seriously by the City of Tshwane Municipality,” he said.