By Mogomotsi Magome
Recent rainfall around the city has eased the Centurion Lake stench that has irked business owners and shoppers at the Centurion Mall, but only for now.
Though the tender for dredging the lake has already been awarded, there is still no date as to when the process will begin.
Following numerous complaints from business owners, customers and continuous media reports about the stench at the lake, the Tshwane Metro Council held meetings with the business owners and promised to start dredging the lake by the first week of November at the latest.
Council apparently moved the date back and said dredging would start by November 15.
Restaurants on the banks said on Wednesday that they were relieved by the reduction of the stench, but were cautious to celebrate because they believed the stench would return as soon as the rains stopped.
Wimpy manager, Hendrik Nieuwenhuis, said the water level had risen, resulting in the reduction of the smell but the dirt was still floating on the surface.
"It is good that it (the smell) has gone down but the customers are no longer comfortable eating outside because they can see the dirt lying there anyway.
"We have the recent rains to thank for this but I dread to think what will happen after this because no dredging has been done yet," he said.
Nieuwenhuis said some customers were booking the Wimpy restaurant on an upper floor for parties because they could not stand the sight of the lake.
According to Cappuccino's manager, Werner Roos, the odour cure system that has been installed by the mall on the outskirts of the restaurants has helped, but this was a temporary measure.
"For now the customers can sit outside, but until when will they continue to do so? The whole situation has forced a lot of people to go elsewhere and some of them are not coming back.
"The sooner the dredging starts the better. The rains have been helpful but as soon as it stops falling, we will back where we started, again," he said.
Cofi manager, Heinz Gurschl said he believed the problem had been left too late and now it would cost authorities a lot of money.
"Huge amounts of money will now be spent to correct a problem that has been (gaining momentum) for many years.
"This mall was built with the lake as the centrepiece, it is amazing that it has been left to reach this point," he said.
Centurion Lakeside Mall spokesperson, Corne van der Walt, confirmed that the tender had already been awarded but said the date when the dredging would start had not yet been confirmed.
The Centurion Lake monitoring committee and the Hennops River Forum have invited the public to meetings about the lake to be held at Cappuccino's (next to Centurion Lake) next on Wednesday at 3.30pm and at Rietvlei Nature Reserve on December 2.