By Staff Reporter
Local school principals and members of the community turned out for the municipality’s meeting about the ongoing water crisis, held at City Hall on 19 June. Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) head Jannie de Villiers, Kingswood College head Leon Grové, St Andrew’s College head Tom Hamilton and the Rhodes University technical manager, Dawid van Wyk were at the meeting along with Amatola Water Board’s chairperson, Pam Yako, the Provincial Head of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Portia Makhanya and Makana’s mayor, Yandiswa Vara.
“We can confirm that we have a plan outlining incremental improvements that will end water provision problems,” said Vara, adding that water shedding had already decreased from two days off, one day ons to one day off and one day off. The municipality says they are currently able to produce 14 mega litres per day, leaving a shortfall of four mega litres per day, a problem they have previously promised to solve by 30 June 2023.
Despite these promises, residents of Makhanda continue to inundate community WhatsApp groups with daily complaints that water pressure is low and that water often does not reaching high-lying areas in Makhanda at all. Thousands of litres of water also flooded down Durban Street and Cradock Road this week, the result of water leaks, while residents reported on 22 June that water had been leaking at the corner of African and Lansdowne Streets for 10 days.
(With thanks to Jackie Clausen for information provided for this article).
