By Linda Pona
This week, Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu’s visit was to ensure that the James Klynhans Water Treatment Works is appropriately used. “We cannot afford to be wishy-washy about the water supply to people,” he said during his site visit to the water treatment plant.
But wishy-washy is how things have been, especially where water and the municipality are concerned. This is clear from the packed Makhanda City Hall, where residents voiced their frustration over their continued water woes or the result of water mismanagement.
As a basic need and a Constitutional right, there should not be a water supply-demand because it should be there without question or worry. Given the many challenges that Makhanda already faces with poor infrastructure and leakages, it does not seem we will be out of the woods yet. Even the minister himself pointed out that there are a great many challenges that we will still face as a town (or rather are already facing), such as continued water leaks, poor water quality and water supply management.
During the meeting at City Hall this week, it is evident that residents have rightfully lost faith in the government, especially considering that continued water leaks go unfixed for days, if not weeks, at a time. Yet, water is scarce in the town. This shows that the government does not care about the ordinary residents of Makhanda, as one resident pointed out. This is evident in the number of people affected by the crisis, beyond ordinary citizens; it includes businesses and students.
This state of affairs is abuse. The government is simply abusing us, said one resident during the meeting, who argued that there was a good water supply during the recent National Arts Festival, unseen in our daily lives.
Tragically, the minister had to travel to Makhanda to listen to the people’s grievances, a resident said. This happens in the presence of a municipality whose job is to pay attention to people’s cries and frustrations and, more importantly, whose job it is to act on those grievances.
Though many grievances were tabled at the town meeting with the minister, he has vowed to end Makhanda’s water woes; I do hope this will be the case and not another failed promise by those in power.
