Due to local water shortages, protesting residents of Enkangala, close to Bronkhorstspruit, east of Pretoria, have closed the municipality.
To expedite the delivery of water in the neighborhood, they convened early on Monday and have been sleeping in the municipality offices ever since. Some locals claim that the lack of water has caused children to miss school.
Mboniseni Dlamini, a local, claims that the last year has seen a bad water supply. The state of affairs has gotten worse within the last half-year. According to Dlamini, he visited the Ekungwini Municipality’s water treatment plant in his capacity as a community leader to evaluate the situation.
“We are suspecting that there is a lack of commitment on the procurement side, whereby the individuals who are supposed to pay the funds towards the service providers don’t take that responsibility,” the statement reads. “We did not know what was happening until now.”
Citizens in the majority of the impacted localities, such as Rethabiseng and Enkangala, expressed concern about the erratic water supply.
“We believe they are taking advantage of us; they need to send in an invoice to our children and grandmothers in order to receive the votes. We also won’t cast a ballot if this problem persists.
“Water is the reason we came here. We have been without water in Rethabiseng for three years. The smell of the toilets makes it difficult for us to take a bath or even use the restroom. Because we don’t have enough water, we can’t even wash our bedding. The municipality does not want or care about us, which is why we decided to come and sleep here in the bush.
After a pump at the water treatment plant broke down, the City of Tshwane claims they are working nonstop to expedite the restoration of water to Bronkhorstspruit and the neighboring regions.
“The City is continuing with the manipulation of the reservoirs to create a balance in the distribution of water, as an interim measure, in our quest to ensure water supply to the residents amid the challenges,” says Selby Bokaba, a spokesperson for Tshwane. “However, this intervention has posed a challenge for high lying areas, due to the shortage of pumps.”
According to the City, starting next Wednesday, there should be a noticeable improvement in the water flow.
Leave a Reply