When residents in Hartbeespoort on Tuesday stepped in to assist the struggling Madibeng municipality with fixing bursts water pipes in the area, things happened in record time!
Residents in Meerhof, Ifafi and Melodie have been without a drop of water since Sunday after five pipes burst, and when the municipality indicated on Tuesday that they did not have the necessary equipment to fix the pipes, community members, Afriforum and a business stepped in to assist the municipality in restoring the water supply and to set up water points where residents could access water.
From shortly after 08:00 on Tuesday morning to around 15:00 a massive team effort ensured that burst pipes at five locations were fixed in a record time.
Xanadu Eco Estate contributed their TLB and their infrastructure manager, Hennie Cronje, who went on site with the TLB.
Afriforum rented another two TLBs and ENI Supplies sponsored one of their trucks to supply water to residents. Two fire carts from Afriforum and the Meerhof neighbourhood watch were used to take water to the elderly in the community and water points were established at various places.
Meerhof School and two residents in Ifafi also offered water to residents from their boreholes. Water taps were set up outside their properties.
A resident, Charles de Beer, coordinated the effort and went back and forth between the various areas where workers worked hard all day to fix the broken pipes.
De Beer said on Tuesday afternoon that he hoped this community initiative shows residents that it is much more productive to work with and assist the municipality instead of just complaining.
“The Madibeng workers worked really hard and it is obvious they know what they are doing as long as they have the tools to do it with. If we all work together like we did today, we will get things done in Hartbeespoort,” he said.
Nelis Janse van Rensburg of Afriforum agrees. “It was a good feeling to see a community come together and address a problem instead of complaining on social media groups. This way we can do a lot to address the various service delivery problems,” he said.
By 15:00 workers were fixing the last pipe in Ouwapad in Ifafi and the municipality was waiting for a Randwater technician to come and open the pressure valves on the line to restore the water supply.