Amathole District Municipality has appointed a professional service provider to upgrade Fort Beaufort’s water Bulk Supply Scheme. The project entails upgrading the capacity of the treatment plant, bulk pipelines and building storage and command reservoirs. It’s estimated the work will take 18-24 months and is expected to start in May 2021.
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Fort Beaufort on 7 April for a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of human rights campaigner Charlotte Maxeke’s birth. While he was there, residents complained about water challenges at Gqudezi.
Illegal connections to the main pipeline to Gqudezi in Fort Beaufort have cause water outages to the village, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) said.
Meanwhile, DWS has issued water tankers to Amathole District Municipality in order to serve villages including Gqudezi. These water tankers fill tanks that have been erected in strategic positions within communities.
“The Department of Water and Sanitation implores communities to desist from the practice of illegal connections because a lot of water is lost and wasted through such, leading to government losing billions of rands in water loss,” the Department said.
During the President’s visit to Fort Beaufort, he committed to establishing a college in honour of human rights activist and liberation struggle heroine Charlotte Maxeke. Some records show she was born in Fort Beaufort and so the ANC’s national commemoration was led from there. The institution would be named the Charlotte Maxeke Memorial College, the President said.
- This piece is based on a media release from the Department of Water and Sanitation
