Embattled municipal officials reacted calmly as around 200 residents stormed the City Hall Council Chambers on Wednesday, demanding answers about the city-wide water cuts.
Embattled municipal officials reacted calmly as around 200 residents stormed the City Hall Council Chambers on Wednesday, demanding answers about the city-wide water cuts.
The near town-wide outage lasted for longer, but after four days residents of Grahamstown West had already had enough and through social networks and email lists organised to meet at the municipality at midday on Wednesday.
Shepherded into the city hall to wait for an official to address them, the group soon tired of waiting and climbed the stairs to the Council Chamber.
They barged into a meeting of councillors and officials, chanting "Water! We want water!"
"We call the municipality to find out about the water and we are not getting answers. We are coming here to get answers," said one resident.
Director of Technical and Infrastructure services Thembinkosi Myalato and chairperson Nomhle Gaga remained calm as the group vented their frustration.
"We had done a switch over from Botha's Hill to provide water for the people in the western side of the town," Myalato explained to them.
"Some high areas don't have water because of what happened at the Howieson's Poort Dam, where a welded pipe burst. But the problem has been solved now. At 5am we started the pump. People should have water by tomorrow [Thursday]," Myalato said.
The mood among the residents remained angry, however, with several saying officials weren't doing enough quickly enough to solve the problem.
