By Thapelo Matlala
Some Makhanda residents were left without water for nine days after mechanical issues, cable theft and a go-slow affected the water supply to the town.
On 22 April, the municipality said a stuck intake valve at Howiesonspoort dam had prevented water from being pumped up to Waainek water treatment works, affecting the western side of town. The municipality does not employ anyone able to repair the valve, and said it was waiting for experts from elsewhere to arrive and fix the problem.
On the same day, the municipality said one of the two pumps at the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Works had broken down. When they introduced a temporary solution, both pumps at the Works stopped working mid-day, leaving the municipality with not enough time to pump water to the reservoirs for the next day.
The municipality also announced that “cable was stolen between Intermediate and High Level Reservoir. As a result, it was making it impossible to transfer between two reservoirs”, the municipality said.
Photo: Geoff Embling, DA Ward Councillor.
Water resumed on 23 April, but not for everyone and by 25 April, the municipality announced that the water would be off for the second day in a row, again because of the stuck intake valve.
“An expert will come over to assist, however, there are delays due to rescheduled commitments”, the municipality said, adding that as a result “we are faced with an undesirable situation of two days off and one day on until the situation is resolved”.
By 26 April, workers had allegedly embarked on a go-slow from 4am – 8am after working overtime and not being paid for it, and water only began flowing from the taps later that morning.
But some residents, such as Eddie Wille of Somerset Heights, said on 26 April that they had not received any water for nine days.
“It is time to lay charges against municipal employees that sabotage the system or work in a way that causes damage to our infrastructure. It has been nine days since we have had water. What is happening about the valve, who are the specialists coming in to help? They have been telling us for a week that the valve is going to be repaired,” said Wille.
DA Ward Four councillor Geoff Embling alleged that homeless people who live in an abandoned building just below Intermediate level reservoir had cut the fence enclosing the pumphouse. “It was clear that cable thieves were eyeing cables and equipment in the pumphouse. The municipality was warned about the cut fence, but it neither removed the [homeless people]nor did it fix the fence, and the inevitable happened, affecting the water supply of the high-lying areas in the west,” said Embling.
He also accused municipal unions of sabotaging the water, saying “…the entire city is experiencing water cuts – anywhere from days at a time to weeks at a time in certain areas. To date, there has not been an outcome, or any consequences, regarding the James Kleynhans flooding incident which happened over a month ago. The time has come for the council, and the municipal manager, to stand up to the unions, whose interference is wide-ranging, from the municipal budget to the implementation of consequence management for incompetent managers, negligent workers, and employees who are involved in the sabotage of essential services”, Embling added.
Makana Citizens’ Front (MCF) water activist Siyandwa Cetwa said he was not happy with the municipality failing to provide proper water infrastructure, and being unable to fulfill its obligations to residents.
“This matter has been an ongoing issue and the disservice makes it hard for us to maintain hygiene. What about those who cannot afford to buy water? Because I have seen people resorting to mjovalale (locally manufactured beer) which is R3 per liter. People rather drink beer because water is expensive”, said Cetwa, referring to the fact that many working-class residents in Makhanda live too far away from supermarkets that sell filtered water.
Cetwa added that the Makhanda water crisis showed that the ANC was incapable and it was time for residents to look in another direction in the 2024 national elections.
Another concerned resident who did not want to be named, telling Grocott’s Mail that he did not want to create enemies, gushed in anger, querying why he had to pay “for services that are not rendered?”
“I have now spent R1000 to buy five thousand litres of water and I am still expected to pay R1000 for electricity and water rates,” he said. He added that when the municipality needed to fix roads for ceremonies, they were able to do so quickly, but when they had to provide services to residents, there were long delays.
The Makana municipality repeatedly apologized to residents for the inconvenience of the water cuts. The municipality did not respond to questions from Grocott’s Mail.
