PHALABORWA – “Phalaborwa is a volcano waiting to explode,” says disgruntled resident Saartjie Matthysen, who believes the recent floods have exposed long-standing problems in the town.

According to Matthysen, Phalaborwa was already in decline long before the heavy rains hit.

“The electricity infrastructure is old and was already damaged before the floods,” she said. “There is no maintenance, and now that the rain has come, people are going for more than two weeks without electricity and water.”

Matthysen, who has lived in Phalaborwa for 20 years, is calling on the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality to take decisive action. She criticised Mayor Merriam Malatji, saying she wants to see leadership on the ground rather than on social media.

“I want to see the mayor going out to where the problems are, not just posing on Facebook while handing out parcels donated by other organisations,” she said. “She should hire more people and bring in equipment to fix the problems. Instead, community members are starting to fix things on their own.”

She added that weather services had issued warnings about the severity of the conditions, but no preventative action was taken.

“The mayor, her team, and Lepelle Northern Water could have looked at ways to prevent the damage during the warning period. Trees next to power lines could have been cut, and Lepelle could have ensured systems were ready in case of flooding,” she said.

Ward 11 Cllr Lonika Booysen echoed Matthysen’s concerns, saying residents across Phalaborwa are suffering, particularly businesses in the industrial area of Ward 12, due to ongoing power outages.

“The electricity infrastructure is not maintained, and quick fixes are no longer working,” Booysen said. “Guesthouses have no power or water and are spending thousands of rands on generators. They are really losing out.”

Booysen explained that, according to information she received, water outages in several areas, including Namakgale, were caused by Lepelle Northern Water closing a town reservoir due to heavy rains. This, she said, resulted in two major leaks, leaving residents without water.

The Herald sent enquiries to the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality and Lepelle Northern Water regarding the power and water outages, but with no response yet.