We, the undersigned residents and ratepayers of Ward 5, Wakkerstroom, hereby submit this formal petition in terms of our constitutional right to public participation.

We draw the municipality’s urgent attention to the ongoing, severe collapse of water and sanitation services in our area, specifically noting the following failures:

Systemic Lack of Maintenance: Essential water and sanitation infrastructure is being left to deteriorate, causing avoidable breakdowns and health hazards.

Absence of Formal Reporting Procedures: The local municipal office fails to log service requests correctly, issue official reference numbers, or follow standard operating procedures when faults are reported.

Failure to Attend to Faults: Dispatched personnel consistently fail to show up to scheduled service calls or address reported leaks and blockages.

Inaccurate Water Meter Readings: Residents are receiving erratic, inflated, or completely fabricated water meter readings, leading to unfair billing.

Protracted Service Delivery Delays: Community members are left waiting for months for basic service delivery interventions, violating the municipality's legal obligation to provide services efficiently.

DEMANDED ACTIONS:

To remedy these infractions, the petitioners demand that the Municipal Manager and the Director of Technical Services implement the following corrective measures within 14 business days of receiving this petition:

Standardised Fault Logging: Establish a transparent, functional fault-logging system that immediately issues verifiable SMS or written reference numbers to residents.

Audit of Meter Readings: Conduct an immediate, transparent audit of water meters in the affected area and correct all inaccurate, estimated billings.

Service Delivery Turnaround Strategy: Provide the Ward Councillor and the community with a clear, time-bound turnaround plan to clear the backlog of unresolved water and sanitation faults.

Operational Accountability: Investigate the operational inefficiencies and ongoing absenteeism within the local water and sanitation department, and implement strict consequence management for staff who fail to execute their duties.

CONCLUSION:

We request a formal, written acknowledgement of this petition within 7 days, and a comprehensive response detailing the municipality's action plan within 30 days, as dictated by municipal standing rules.