The public outcry over Buffalo City Metro’s failure to show urgency and keep the public informed during the water outage was rejected by mayor Alfred Mtsi.
Here’s how BCM communicated with the people:
- At 11am on Monday, city spokesman Thandy Matebese put out a press release advising that BCM’s water department was undertaking an emergency repair at Umzonyana works. Water production would “be disrupted today”. High-lying areas “may experience low pressure until the system is back to normal”. BCM apologised for the “inconvenience”, pleading for “patience while we attend to the problem”.
- Five-and-a-half hours later, at 4.27pm, Matebese gave an update that repairs would “take longer than anticipated”.
Water production was expected to resume at “midnight or tomorrow morning”. East London could expect “water interruptions”, and ominously, the city reported: “The system may take two to three days to recover.”
- On Tuesday, residents woke up to no water. The day descended into chaos, with panic shopping, and schools, surgeries and businesses closing.
- BCM spoke at 3.10pm, seven hours into the working day.
A crisis was at hand. The siphon had failed. A bypass was being built. Technicians were struggling. Tankers were being dispatched to hospitals and old- age homes first. Reservoirs were “critically low” throughout East London. Then the bombshell: the system would now take “three to six days” to recover. People who “still have water” were asked to use it “sparingly”.
The standard apology came with the panic-laced sentence: “We are doing all in our control to restore the water supply to normal.”
lThe Dispatch was given official access to BCM’s Mark Westerberg, who gave a human face to the drama at the works;
lAt 4pm, the Dispatch called mayor Alfred Mtsi, and he gave his comment. It was 28 hours after the water ran out.
lAt that time, Westerberg got the siphon working and reservoirs filled overnight.
On Wednesday morning some taps flowed, others were still pushing air. At 1.09pm, BCM commented that all was on the mend. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Drop-by-drop account of BCM response
Here’s how BCM communicated with the people:
Water production was expected to resume at “midnight or tomorrow morning”. East London could expect “water interruptions”, and ominously, the city reported: “The system may take two to three days to recover.”
A crisis was at hand. The siphon had failed. A bypass was being built. Technicians were struggling. Tankers were being dispatched to hospitals and old- age homes first. Reservoirs were “critically low” throughout East London. Then the bombshell: the system would now take “three to six days” to recover. People who “still have water” were asked to use it “sparingly”.
The standard apology came with the panic-laced sentence: “We are doing all in our control to restore the water supply to normal.”
lThe Dispatch was given official access to BCM’s Mark Westerberg, who gave a human face to the drama at the works;
lAt 4pm, the Dispatch called mayor Alfred Mtsi, and he gave his comment. It was 28 hours after the water ran out.
lAt that time, Westerberg got the siphon working and reservoirs filled overnight.
On Wednesday morning some taps flowed, others were still pushing air. At 1.09pm, BCM commented that all was on the mend. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
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