A burst water main and multiple leaks continue to disrupt parts of Overport and Morningside, with residents still facing inconsistent supply more than a week after the crisis began. Attention is now shifting to contractor performance, oversight and the condition of ageing municipal infrastructure.
The main fault, outside 534 Peter Mokaba Ridge Road, has left some households completely without water, while others report low pressure. Residents say repeated repair efforts have failed to provide a lasting solution.
Community representative Dees Ahmed, who has been providing updates on the ground, said the burst occurred in the early hours of Friday morning, 10 April.
“The major burst at Peter Mokaba happened like 3 am. I got a message from a resident saying there was no water and we needed to establish exactly where the burst was. Municipal teams only arrived later in the morning due to shift changes. As shift starts at 6am, the plumbers only got on site around 8am and then had to wait two hours for a TLB to excavate the area,” he said.
Ahmed said the work involved replacing 10 to 15 metres of PVC piping linked to older asbestos infrastructure, which has made the system more vulnerable to pressure failures.
“When water is restored, the pressure is enormous. It often causes the old asbestos pipe to give way. The initial repair failed under pressure, forcing teams to restart the work. it just gave away again and we had to get a new team on site and start over,” Ahmed explained.
He further explained that the delays followed after a branch pipe leak was discovered across the road, followed by another leak near a nearby facility.
“We thought everything was sorted, but on Sunday morning around 6am water was still coming through.” Despite the setbacks, Ahmed said the contractor remained on site during key stages of the repair.
“The contractor knew exactly what needed to be done and instructed the team. Around 8am water was back, however, reinstatement and backfilling of the road are expected to continue during the week.”
Ahmed said the repeated failures highlight the need for long-term infrastructure replacement rather than repeated patch repairs. “This is happening every second week in this area. We need full replacement of the pipeline, not just repairs,” he said.
A separate sewer overflow at the corner of Sheringham Avenue and West Road has added to the pressure on residents. Ahmed said he visited the site after being asked by the ward councillor, who is currently in hospital, but found no contractors on site at the time.
“There was nobody there when I arrived just after 2pm. I reported it back to the councillor. The sewer system as severely blocked and requiring industrial intervention.The lines are heavily blocked. They need industrial jetting and rods to clear it,” he said.
He added that sewer overflows remain a recurring issue in Overport and parts of Sydenham, while other surrounding areas remain stable for now.
Ward councillor Remona McKenzie said the sewer infrastructure challenge in the ward may require full repair or replacement, following ongoing municipal assessments.
With residents still facing unreliable water supply and repeated sewer failures, questions continue to mount over contractor accountability, oversight and whether ageing infrastructure is being properly replaced or repeatedly patched.
For now, many households remain in limbo — still waiting for a stable solution to a problem that continues to return.
