Residents of Ridegway held a protest in order for their voices to be heard
Ridgeway – After enduring a week-long water outage, residents of Ridgeway took to the streets in protest, demanding a resolution to the ongoing water supply issues plaguing their community. The protests were fueled by frustration and a lack of accountability from the authorities responsible for providing essential services.
The dire situation began when the community experienced a prolonged water shortage that lasted for several days. Initially, the water supply was disrupted due to power issues in the area, which affected the pumping systems. While this was understandable, what followed left the residents perplexed, said community leader, Zubair Patel.
“After that particular day of five or six hours of having no power, suddenly we were told that we don’t have water in our reservoir which didn’t make sense to us at all. How can you suddenly not have water in your reservoir after a short outage of power when loadshedding on other days could go up to 10 to 12 hours and you still have water.”
The negligence of authorities
The community waited patiently for a day or two, but the situation escalated when a significant pipe burst had occurred in the area, exacerbating the water scarcity problem. The issue was reported to Johannesburg Water but their complaints fell on deaf ears and then the blame game started between Johannesburg Water and Rand Water.
“The burst pipes were reported as usual to Joburg Water and what had happened is they came out to look at it and left. This went on for three or four days in a row. They just weren’t doing anything. Then it was a blame game between them and Rand Water as to whose responsibility it was to actually fix the stuff.”
A call for action in Ridgeway
With neither party taking responsibility for resolving the issue, frustration reached its peak as the community felt neglected and abandoned by those entrusted with their well-being. With no resolution in sight and a lack of ownership from the authorities, the community decided to take matters into their own hands.
The media played a crucial role in bringing attention to their plight. Yesterday morning, news outlets, including Salaamedia arrived at the scene to cover the story, providing a glimmer of hope that their grievances would finally be addressed. The residents, exhausted and desperate, simply sought one thing: a plan of action and a way forward.
“We are openly inviting the CEO of Rand Water, Joburg Water, even the mayor to come here and meet with us and give us solutions. Every single one of us here are ratepayers. We all pay our rates. We all pay our taxes. If we miss one month, they will cut us off. We haven’t had water for six days and we don’t have any recourse. Where is the fairness in that?” questioned one resident.
Another resident who works in the local hospital expressed her frustrations of how the hospital has no water at times which makes it impossible for nurses and doctors to clean themselves. With everyone constantly talking about stopping the rate of infection, it has become impossible for healthcare workers to do that when there is no water to even wash their hands.
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The battle for water
Only after media intervention, did Johannesburg Water commence the necessary repairs, said Patel. It was then revealed that there were three major leaks in the area that had been causing the water to bypass the affected homes.
“We saw the suburbs around us, their water was coming back to them and unfortunately, we weren’t getting any because of these major pipe bursts. The pipes were then repaired last night. It was all done by quarter past 12 last night. The last of the three major repairs were done and the water started coming through at two in the morning. Rand Water had to play their part in opening valves that were under their control and Joburg Water then opened valves that were under their control and the water started coming through.”
The power of protest and moving forward for residents of Ridgeway
The protest action played a pivotal role in hastening the resolution of the water crisis. It was regrettable that such drastic measures were necessary to ensure that the community’s basic needs were met. Patel, rightfully so, questioned why they had to resort to protests to receive the services they were paying for. The sentiment echoed among the community was that they merely sought fair treatment and delivery of the services they were entitled to as ratepayers.
“We are all ratepayers at the end of the day. We just want the service that we pay for. We’re not asking for more. We’re not asking for any less. Treat us fairly, treat us justly because we are not a community that takes harsh action against the council when service is not delivered. I think we’re taken for granted and quite frankly the whispers amongst the community is that if they need to start getting more stringent with the way in which they protest, they’re going to and you can’t blame them for thinking that way.”
Zubair Patel spoke to Julie Alli about the measures taken by the Ridgeway community to ensure water was restored. Listen to that conversation here:
