Staff at a local supermarket have no water in the section where food is prepared and for the past three months have had to carry buckets of water up a flight of stairs to flush the toilet.
Staff at a local supermarket have no water in the section where food is prepared and for the past three months have had to carry buckets of water up a flight of stairs to flush the toilet.
The building housing Checkers, in High Street, has no water supply to the third floor, where not only the shop's staff toilets are located, but also the store's bakery and delicatessen preparation areas.
An employee at the store, who did not want to be named, confirmed that the store has been without water for more than three months.
"We are struggling. We have reported this to the municipality. They came twice to check what the problem is and filled the drums with water, but the problem has not been fixed."
The employee said staff have to carry buckets of water upstairs when they need to use the toilet.
Another staff member, asked about the water situation, said, "It is disgusting in those toilets. It is very dirty and it has been like that for three months now. Please help us if you can."
The first employee said the problem had been reported to the manager of the building. "We are concerned about hygiene, because in the deli and the bakery there is no water: our staff in those sections have to fetch water from the butchery.
We have reported it to the manager of the building and he said he would try and send in someone to look at the problem," the employee said.
Building manager Markus Griessel said the problem had been caused by a burst pipe.
"There was a burst pipe in Anglo African Street and we notified the municipality about this problem. I am going to send plumbers again to go and look at the problem," he said.
Sources within the municipality told Grocott's Mail that the problem at Checkers had to do with their plumbing.
"We have advised them to get plumbers to fix the problem. There is no problem in the meter which is controlled by the municipality," said one of the workers at Makana's Technical and Infrastructure department.
The store employee said water was delivered to the store by fire department staff.
A Checkers Communications officer at the head office in Cape Town yesterday declined the opportunity to comment on this story.
