Water & sewer infrastructure upgrades critically needed in Bedfordview

by Cllr. Jill Humphreys — DA Ward Councillor & Member of the Environment, Resource and Waste Management in Ekurhuleni

Date: 03 September 2021

Release: Immediate

Type: Media statement

The ANC coalition* led City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) has shamelessly failed to deliver on Local Government’s mandate to create and promote a safe and healthy environment for the Bedfordview community.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Bedfordview has been inundated with calls and messages concerning the failure of essential infrastructure in the area that had adversely affected business. Bedfordview has many thriving businesses that employ many residents in the City. When these businesses have sewerage in their properties for weeks on end, how can such business be sustained?

For months now, millions of litres of clean water have literally gone down the drain, owing to recurring burst water pipes in Bedfordview. Desperate residents watch in horror and disbelief as thousands of litres of fresh potable water gush into the streets while their taps are dry. With the best will in the world and supreme effort, our depot simply cannot replace broken pipes, respond to multiple blockages and leaks, resolve the lack of water pressure, and implement reinstatements, with no resources. The Edenvale Water and Sanitation Depot needs staff to manage the most basic service delivery — let alone systems that should have been replaced years ago and are now failing.

The ANC and its coalition partners continuously brag about the good work done in the Metro. Yet, none of this ‘good work’ is reaching Bedfordview as infrastructure continues to fail! While we all understand the need to provide services for previously disadvantaged areas, it is not acceptable when the management of these monies intended to uplift the needy, disappear down an ever-deepening pit of mismanagement, failed projects, and cadre-consumed contracts — quietly written off as fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

As one of Ekurhuleni’s lucrative suburbs, Bedfordview is the source of enormous revenue which the CoE relies heavily on. However, it is being allowed to rot and decay at an alarming rate.

The CoE needs to act promptly. Otherwise, the already declining revenue in the City will eventually disappear. If the CoE continues to fail its rate-paying residents — they will leave the City, and so will their rates.

#Time4Change

*ANC Coalition Partners: African Independent Congress (AIC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA)

Media Enquiries

Cllr. Jill Humphreys

DA Ward Councillor & Member of the Environment Resource and Waste Management in Ekurhuleni