Residents of an informal settlement off Ottery Road say they have lived with little to no water for the last two weeks after the pipes in the area were damaged.
Kampies resident and secretary of the Philippi horticultural area social-economic development forum, Rodney Khan, 34, said the residents sukkel to get water while most of it floods the area due to the broken pipes.
“About two weeks ago, somebody stole a copper pipe near the area and since then, we face a daily struggle for clean water.
“Most of the people have to walk to nearby taps to get what they need but we have elderly people here that cannot walk up and down with their buckets or water kannetjies.”
He says residents who live opposite the Philippi police station have been left further frustrated by the lack of assistance from the City of Cape Town, despite multiple complaints being lodged.
“I have been calling the City since the first day we were without water but they just don’t come out to us.
“They only care about the areas around us and when I talk to them, they just say it will be looked into.
“It is frustrating for us to sit without water and then see clean water being dumped on the ground.”
Mayco member for water and sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, said the City’s team was on site on Thursday to investigate the matter.
“Two standpipes have been repaired but there is also a fire hydrant that is leaking, this will be referred to the relevant department,” he added.
Meanwhile Mitchells Plain residents were moer in on Thursday when their water supply was cut due to a burst pipe, which also caused part of a road to collapse.
A burst water main on the corner of Weltevreden and Spine Road resulted in low water pressure in Strandfontein, San Remo and Bay View and no water in parts of Rocklands between Spine Road and Baden Powell Drive.
Traffic in the area also had to be diverted, after Spine Road was closed off between Weltevreden Road in Rocklands and Seafarer Road in Bay View.
While the City’s Water and Sanitation team spent hours attending to emergency repairs on the 450mm diameter water main, while frustrated mense queued at a water tanker at the Total Garage on the corner of Spine and Weltevreden Road and another at the BP Garage next to the Rocklands Civic Centre to collect buckets of water.
Badroodien said the water supply has been restored.
He said in a Facebook post on Thursday evening: “The teams have progressed well to repair the 450mm diameter main on the corners of Weltevreden and Spine Roads.
“They have worked non-stop and are currently on site completing the work. The water supply has been restored.