City of Tshwane says sabotage may be behind water outages in parts of the metro
Rethabiseng and Ekangala areas have been without consistent water supply, and the City says deliberate valve tampering may be the reason for this.
Picture: Pixabay/balouriarajesh
JOHANNESBURG - The City of Tshwane said that sabotage may be behind a prolonged water outage in Rethabiseng and Ekangana last week.
Hundreds of litres of water gushed out in a nearby veld from the pipe, compounding the water challenge for residents.
The metro said the opening of a valve on a pipe in Rethabiseng may be one of the contributing factors to why the two areas still don’t have consistently running water.
Tshwane city manager, Johann Mettler, condemned this act, describing it as sabotage and labelling it evil and barbaric.
The city said, as a result, residents had been denied their human right of access to water.
In March this year, Rethabiseng and Ekangala experienced a prolonged water outage after the breakdown of a pump at the Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Plant, which the city said had since been resolved.
The water issue in the two areas has seen flare-ups in the past, with police remaining on high alert.
Since last week's incident, water supply has been restored to all the low-lying areas, except in high-lying areas.
Technicians conducted inspections at the Rethabiseng valve, before inspecting other valves to ensure that they were closed.
Investigations into the incident are underway.