Joburg Water, Jozi@Work tackle water leaks

18 May 2016

 

Joburg Water, the City of Johannesburg’s water and sanitation infrastructure provision and maintenance entity, has declared “war on leaks” and wants the city's co-operatives and township businesses to, through the Jozi@Work Programme, help it defeat the scourge.

 

Water leaks don’t only cost the City millions of rands every year but they also rob residents of the precious and scarce resource.

Speaking at a Jozi@Work briefing session at the Dlamini Multipurpose Centre in Soweto on Tuesday May 17, Joburg Water's Tinyiko Masondo said the entity wanted to stop leaks in 134 schools in Region D in a campaign to save water, especially in the wake of a drought that plagued the country late last year.

Masondo said 12 co-operatives would be awarded the work, with two appointed from each cluster. Each co-operative or small business is expected to repair at least 10 schools over 12 months, starting from July 1 this year.

“This project is aimed at avoiding the imposition of Level 3 water restrictions, whereby water could be turned off from time to time," she said.

The package involves the repairing of leaking or damaged pipes, taps, cisterns, erf connections and toilet pans; retrofitting of pipes; reinstatement of surfaces; levelling; and removal of debris. This was one of nine Jozi@Work packages presented at the briefing session. The other eight were from the City's Department of Community Development, which involve the following:

• Installation of solar lights, street signs and streets names;

• Water harvesting;

• Cleaning Jojo tanks;

• Cleabing of generators;

• Installation of palm trees;

• Landscaping;

• Garden services; and

• Installation of street concrete furniture, trading stalls and benches in small monument parks.

The packages will run for a year - from 1 July 201f to 30 June 2017.

Submissions close at 4pm on Friday May 27.

Jozi@Work is a R3-billion empowerment and job creation programme spearheaded by Johannesburg Executive Mayor Cllr Parks Tau to help tackle unemployment, poverty and inequality. Under the programme, the City’s entities and departments are required to set aside a portion of their annual budgets to create work and business opportunities for the unemployed by outsourcing some of their projects to Jozi@Work’s registered co-operatives.

Region D Jozi@Work Co-ordinator Lucky Mohlabane dismissed claims that Jozi@Work packages were awarded on nepotisc basis, saying the process was fair and transparent.

“We see to it that the playing field is level. Everyone is given an equal opportunity," Mohlabane said.