By Bongekile Gumede
The Easter weekend was not a happy one for residents of Cowies Hill, West of Durban.
Residents are fed up with ongoing water cuts, burst pipes and power outages which, they say, are not being attended to by the eThekwini Municipality. The Cowies Hill Community Facebook page has also been flooded with complaints from residents residing in different streets, experiencing the same issues. These include Hillside Road, Buckingham Terrace, Ernest Whitcutt Road and Elgin Drive.
The Westville Weekly Gazette also received a number of phone calls and messages from residents calling for urgent intervention following a lack of help from the eThekwini Municipality, even though they lodged complaints and received reference numbers. Chantal Gobey, who has lived in Cowies Hill for over 21 years, said the water issues were ridiculous and she remembered sending emails to the municipality about the same matter 21 years ago. “I seriously feel like we are living in a third world country where we have to use buckets to bath. Since I sent that email to the municipality nothing has changed. Either the water pressure is very low or we have no water at all,” said Gobey.
Ria Harmse, a resident from Woodside, said the electrical outages, burst pipes, water shortages and negligence had become an ongoing problem in the affluent area of Cowies Hill for the past couple of months. “We have had issues with contractors who are not doing their jobs properly, we have had no maintenance of any kind and being an old suburb all our water lines and pipes need to be upgraded. Some of the issues are maybe caused by contractors who are in the area to remove shrubs or big trees. They mess up our water pipes. Our system is fragile and outdated,” said Harmse.
The resident said having an electrical gate and garage was also an issue. “I live alone so I have implemented extra security for my safety. When the power is down, the batteries run down and I can’t get out of my garage unless I open it manually. However, closing it on my own manually is impossible. At times I am left stranded in the dark. My food gets spoilt and needs to be replaced which is a cost to me and other residents who are faced with electrical cuts. Our appliances, laptops, WiFis and TV sets get damaged. It’s just ridiculous,” said Harmse.
She felt it was unfair for her to deal with so many service delivery issues as she was a taxpayer and ratepayer. “We pay for services we are not even getting,” said Harmse. Ward 18 councillor, Melanie Brauteseth, said the area she serves has been inundated with numerous water supply interruptions over the past six months. “These incidences have steadily accelerated and now occur on a weekly, if not daily basis. The main factor underlying all of these issues is the ever crumbling infrastructure and the municipality’s negligence in adequately planning for upgrades and essential maintenance.”
She said to make matters worse, there was insufficient in-house technical capacity and at the same time a lack of resources to procure enough plumbing contractors and essential equipment.
“This decay does not happen overnight. On the governing party’s watch, this situation has steadily worsened despite many warnings by myself and officials. A recent response to questions in council relating to water infrastructure revealed the arrogant ineptitude of the municipal political leadership. I am, however, grateful to those officials who have worked consistently with me to manage the crisis and I am happy to advise that a 7.5km water replacement project in Westville North is in the final stages of approval. I will continue the fight for similar projects throughout Ward 18,” said Brauteseth.
Municipality spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela, acknowledged ongoing water supply challenges in Cowies Hill, which he attributed to frequent burst pipes and an inability to access the affected site. “The delays were due to a water main running inside properties which made it difficult
to access the site and repair. A temporary rider main has been installed to supply consumers with water, whilst arrangements for a permanent solution are being made.”
