The effects of poor service delivery by the local council, have resulted in an accident taking place with not only damages to a truck being reported but also to council property, resulting in a huge amount of water being wasted, as it flowed down the street for more than 24 hours.
This past Monday (January 24), a Council service truck bumped into a fire hydrant on Pendant Street at around 11am, resulting in water gushing out for over 24 hours, before the leak was attended to the next day, on Tuesday afternoon. It is believed that the driver of the truck did not see the fire hydrant, due to long grass, covering the hydrant. According to an eyewitness, the driver reversed into the fire hydrant, causing a burst of water streaming down the street, like a river flowing.
Naren Pillay of Naren’s Autobody Shop, on Pendant Street told the Laudium Sun, that the incident could have been avoided if the municipality had cut the grass in the area regularly, especially around the fire hydrant.
Naren added, “There are two fire hydrants, one on the right side of the road and one on the left side, it is the left side that got damadged. When the service truck bumped into the fire hydrant, the water just started to gush out. I immediately contacted the council, as I could not sit by, whilst so much water was being wasted. I explained to the council that the matter was urgent as a lot of water was gushing, but yet they took their time to come and repair it, only coming the next day. After reporting the water leakage to the municipality, they even contacted me back via SMS with a reference number,” he said.
Naren added that the council should give immediate attention to the long grass in the area as it posed a serious danger to motorists, especially at intersections, saying, “One cannot clearly see another car coming when taking a turn and this is so very dangerous. If the grass is not cut soon, we will see many accidents, which could even result in death.”
