Burst pipes, mouldy walls, unlit stairways and other building snags are causing headaches for returning District Six claimants at the newly built Hanover Street housing complex.
Several snags have confronted claimants who moved to the mix of flats and terraced houses last May (“D6 claimants have mixed feelings about flats,” Southern Suburbs Tatler, June 2), says District Six Phase Three Steering Committee chairman Jeff Alexander.
Thousands of litres of water per day had been lost in a series of pipe bursts in recent months, he said. “Our problem is who is going to pay for that?”
He said the City had referred complaints to the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRARD), which is responsible for attending to snags at the complex pending its transfer to the beneficiaries.
“We have sent them emails and WhatsApp messages though nothing has been done.”
The water was damaging paving, and it was running down stairwells making the stairs unsafe to use, he said, adding that there had been a sewage spill in the yard a month ago.
Mr Alexander stays with his mother, Mavis Alexander, 83, and he said he feared elderly residents could slip and injure themselves on wet surfaces or in one of the unlit stairwells.
“If one of our residents that is living on the top stairwell walks down in the evening and misses a step, it could cause serious injury.”
The daughter of a 92-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, said they had complained about a water leak to a DALRARD official for the past four months and they had been without proper running water for four weeks.
“The leak was so bad that we had to switch the water off at the outside water meter.”
Another resident, Lutfie Majiet, 74, said toilets did not flush properly and he had been without water for a few days.
“They take so long to fix this problem,” he said, referring to the DALRARD.
DALRARD spokesman Reginald Ngcobo said they had met with the residents’ committee last month to discuss the sewage spill, burst pipes and cracks in some walls.
“The department is in a process to appoint a service provider to fix the sewage spill. Secondly, the department has reported the issue of the high water pressure to the municipality to determine the main cause for burst pipes, and the service provider has been appointed to attend to the burst pipes.”
Mr Ngcobo said that because the homes were still being transferred to the individual beneficiaries, the repairs had to through the department’s supply-chain process, which resulted in delays. “Once properties are transferred to beneficiaries they will open accounts with the municipality, and issues of sewerage will be attended to by the City of Cape Town.”
Referring to the unlit stairwells, Mr Ngcobo said they were considered common areas.
“The agreement is that common areas are their responsibility as owners. Once we have transferred the ownership to each of them, we can’t take responsibility for water, electricity and lights.”
Mayoral committee member for water and sanitation Dr Zahid Badroodien said the City was only responsible for its infrastructure on City-owned land, not infrastructure on private property.
“The City has not taken over services and is responsible for infrastructure up to the bulk meter.”
The property owners were responsible for maintaining their own infrastructure to ensure it was in working order to prevent water from going to waste and to avoid high water bills, he said.
