Brian Pittmann, Fish Hoek
On Sunday September 27, the water supply on Highway was cut off for about three hours due to what I understand to be a burst pipe.
On Thursday morning October 1, we realised that we once again had no water supply.
We discovered, at about 10am, that it was not a burst pipe this time as all of our neighbours were receiving water.
We logged a call with the council’s water department and were informed that our problem would be attended to within 48 hours.
As I first write this it is 3pm on Saturday October 3 and despite five or six calls to the water department and being given assurances that our call had been escalated, nothing has happened. Nobody has bothered to contact us.
I googled the details of ward councillor Aimee Kuhl but the numbers given on the site are incorrect, and I have no reply to an email I sent her asking her to please contact me. Nothing has yet happened here either.
Is it asking too much to have this department respond to queries of this nature even if to advise that attendance will only be available later?
A shocking state of affairs, but I suppose with the state that my country is in now, it should come as no surprise that this is the type of non-service we can expect in the future.
On Sunday October 4, at 1pm, we have had no further response. Nobody called last night as we were assured would happen, and this morning I contacted Alan Winde and got his secretary on her way into church.
She (Lucille) asked me to forward my details and the reference number we had given.
She had not come back to me by noon and I phoned her again to find out what was going on. She advised that it had been passed on to the community liaison officer.
It is now almost 2pm and we have heard nothing further. I honestly do not know who to turn to now.
What has amazed me throughout the four days of no water is that nobody has had the decency to phone me back and advise me what is happening (or not happening in this case). Perhaps this is not done nowadays. Everybody concerned has passed the problem on to someone else with no result being achieved.
You can rest assured that when it comes time to vote again this experience will be entrenched in my mind, and I shall perhaps join the next service delivery protest.
* Bianca Capazorio, spokesperson for Premier Alan Winde, responds:
We sympathise with Mr Pittmann and his situation, however, his complaint is misdirected.
The Western Cape government, as a province, does not deal with water issues at all, as these fall under the domain of the City of Cape Town.
Despite this, a staff member in Premier Winde’s office took Mr Pittmann’s call on a Sunday morning and out of kindness and concern, did her utmost to assist over the weekend by raising the matter with the City, as did our community liaison team.
Our team were on the phone to the City again first thing this morning (Monday), still trying to assist, and were assured by the City that the issue would be resolved today.
The fact remains that the provincial government and the City of Cape Town are two separate spheres of government. We do hope that Mr Pittmann is able to acknowledge this fact, as well as the dedicated assistance given to him by an official who truly went out of her way, in the spirit of public service, to help him.
* Ward councillor Aimee Kuhl responds: I am truly sorry to hear about the experience Mr Pittman has had. I have checked my emails and unfortunately did not receive any information on his particular request. I have asked the Echo team to give me his contact details for the sub-council staff to assist him immediately. Anyone struggling with the completion of service delivery issues is welcome to email me the reference number at aimee.kuhl@capetown.gov.za
I apologise on behalf of our ground team, should they have not been able to help Mr Pittman timeously. They are working exceptionally hard despite Covid-19 regulations and back-logs to assist everyone in the city as soon as possible.