Sandton Gautrain station to get water back after settlement

The Gautrain station in Sandton will have water again after a settlement was reached between the City of Johannesburg and the train’s owners after the taps were turned off as a result of the landlord allegedly owing the city R8m in rates and services. 

The out-of-court settlement, made an order of court on Tuesday, will result in the station having its own water meter installed, mayor Herman Mashaba’s spokesperson Tony Taverna-Turison said. 

The taps in the station, which is used by about 20,000 passengers every day, and at the small businesses on the same block have been dry for almost a month after the city switched off the water in a bid to get Cedar Park Properties to pay up. 

While the settlement is a reprieve for the Gautrain and the provincial government, the small businesses will still be without water. 

The settlement agreement also came a day before an urgent application by the Bombela Concession Company, which operates the Gautrain, and the Gauteng provincial government to restore the water was to have been heard in court. Bombela and the Gautrain Management Agency had made it clear that they did not agree with the city that the Gautrain was a tenant of Cedar Park and that they were innocent third parties in the battle between them.

Having its own water meter will result in the city billing the Gautrain directly for its water usage at the station. The city has agreed to install the new meter within two days of the Bombela paying it R120,000 in respect of the water connection and its associated installation costs.

“At the end of the day, the city is interested in ensuring that we are able to generate revenue from services such as water, which, in turn, will be pumped back into service delivery,” Mashaba said in a statement this week.

The case against Cedar Park, however, rages on and is expected to be back in court on Thursday. The water will remain cut off in the property that is not part of the Gautrain until Cedar Park settles its debt. 

The battle between Cedar Park and the city has also resulted in a forensic investigation into the sale of the land in question to the company that has ties with the Gupta-linked Regiments Capital. 

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