The Gift of the Givers Foundation helping residents in Makhanda with water this week. Photo: Luvuyo Mjekula
By Luvuyo Mjekula and Nandipha Twani
The Gift of the Givers Foundation has once again come to the aid of frustrated Makhanda residents, some of whom have gone weeks without water.
The foundation’s truck was spotted delivering water to residents in various parts of Makhanda on Tuesday.
A staff member told Grocott’s Mail they had supplied water to residents of both the eastern and western sides of Makhanda.
In Joza, the Gift of the Givers team was met with excitement and relief, by residents of Nompondo Street, who lamented constant water outages.
Residents of Nompondo Street in Joza were relieved to receive water from the Gift of the Givers Foundation after their taps had been dry for weeks. Photo: Luvuyo Mjekula
“I am a resident of Nompondo and we have not had water for about three weeks. Gift of the Givers always helps us with water and we are grateful to them.”
Meanwhile, for the past few weeks, social media has been flooded with messages from angry Makhanda residents, some stating they had been without water for days and some for weeks.
Some of the residents’ comments on social media:
Said one resident: “Still no water in Willeton Road. In the last three weeks, we have had three days where the supply worked for a few hours on each of those days.”
Another resident: “Day 8 without water Schnell street.”
A resident in the St Aidan’s area complained: “I have no water at Fir Tree Lodge, 5 St Aidan’s Avenue. Not sure about other residents in the complex.”
Said a frustrated community member: “It’s frustrating to get up in the morning you have to get ready for work and there is no water in the taps it really changes your mind set for the day really.”
DA councillor Cary Clark was apparently instrumental in getting the Gift of the Givers to bring some relief to the locals.
A Gift of the Givers Foundation truck pictured in Joza this week. Photo: Luvuyo Mjekula
Clark shared this message on social media in recent days: “I spoke to a manager today and there have been serious problems at intermediate level reservoir. Muni tried to finish the job there on Fri, but didn’t have the right size VJ couplings, so had to get VJs from East London on Sat. They should finish the job today.
“This was in conjunction with contractors not doing the tie-in links properly, which led to high level reservoir being closed. There was also a major pipe burst on the eastern Botha’s hill line, which was finally completed and tested on Friday.
“Affected areas in Ward 4 such as Kings Heights, Southey St area. Water pressure is low and some areas there are still struggling with water outages. It has been chaotic over the past few weeks, and Short staffed Water team has been working through several nights to fix these major problems.”
Makana Municipality spokesperson Anele Mjekula acknowledged the “widespread water outages all around Makhanda recently”. He said the outages were due to a number of reasons and the municipality was working around the clock to ensure that water supply was restored to all affected areas.
In this file picture, water is seen bubbling due to a pipe burst in Blackbeard Street. Photo: Geoff Embling
“[On Tuesday], a number of pipe bursts were encountered on the eastern side of Makhanda, prohibiting the opening of service reservoirs, which interrupted water supply. The team has since repaired damaged pipes and water supply will be restored tomorrow morning, 04 December, for all areas on the eastern side.”
Mjekula said three roving water trucks were dispatched on Tuesday to supply water on the eastern side.
He also provided an update on a leak on Botha’s Hill. He said repairs on the broken 300mm pipe from Bothas Hill at Seymour Street were still not completed.
The required parts would be delivered on Wednesday.
Affected streets included Seymour, Southey, Trollope, parts of Fitzroy and the nearby vicinity. “The repairs will be completed as soon as the parts arrive [on Wednesday].”
On the Railway Bridge leak, Mjekula said repairs on the major water pipe burst in Milner Street had been completed. The intermediate reservoir had been opened, and water in West Hill, Currie Park, Somerset Heights, parts of Rhodes University and parts of Oatlands North had been restored.
He also issued a notice of a planned water supply interruption on Wednesday evening due to a scheduled tie-in and switching over to the new pipeline at Ilchester by the asbestos contractor. The valve at Lucas Meyer was closed and water would be restored in the morning, he said.
