Deadly crisis as prison farm runs out of water

Barberton is experiencing the worst drought since 1990. Residents of the prison farm were up in arms last week after they had been without running water for 10 days.

On the Facebook page, Barbertonners Mpumalanga, fingers have been pointed at Umjindi Municipality, with some residents claiming that it was due to one person’s decision that the water was cut off.

When questioned whom this one person might be, various answers were received. Barberton Times established that it was not so cut and dried as some residents made it out to be, but that the problem seemingly began within the management of the prison farm itself.

Municipal manager (MM), Patrick Msibi, said the municipality had in 2015 already approached the senior managers and stakeholders of the prison farm to warn them and bring the seriousness of the situation that El Niño was causing to their attention. During at least one of these meetings, senior managers of the prison farm, accompanied by municipal directors, were taken to Lomati Dam as well as Umjindi’s other water sources.

According to Msibi this was so they could observe the state of the catastrophe. On two occasions, the municipality requested that the management of the farm implement water restrictions and repair the borehole.
Apparently, it was in such a state of ruin that purified water, which in time of drought should strictly be used for human consumption, was used for the piggery, cattle and irrigation systems.

Msibi said that over and above this, the prison farm management was also requested to connect the borehole to the prison farm reservoir. Msibi said it (the municipality) had received information from prison heads that the cells were crowded. As far as Barberton Times could establish, Medium A, B and Maximum houses over 2 200 inmates.
“We urge you to implement emergency measures to ensure you have your own water supply as an alternative as we are now reaching the real drought season. Furthermore, we urge you to take drastic measures to reallocate inmates to other towns,” said Msibi.

On Thursday, a letter from Umjindi Municipality, signed by the MM, was sent to all parties concerned.
This was done to reiterate what was discussed with management during previous meetings and to explain how it came about that things had taken such a turn for the worst. Still, it seemed as if certain residents of the farm were still hell-bent on laying the blame in front of the municipality’s door as some complained that the letter was only dated April 21.
According to statistics given to Barberton Times by Umjindi Municipality, the average South African household uses roughly 15 000 litres of water per month. According to these calculations the prison farm shouldn’t be using more than 450 000 litres a day. Apart from the 2 200 inmates, there are also approximately 80 houses occupied by employees and their families on the grounds.

On Friday, nearly two million litres of water was delivered to the prison farm by Umjindi Municipality, and their officials were given advice by the municipality on water control. Approximately 12 hours later the reservoir was empty.
“The water consumption of the prison farm is unacceptably high and the wastage of line water is continuing which causes the municipal reservoirs to always be on its lowest levels. This has led to the critical stage of our resources and we cannot continue to deliver water to wasteful areas,” said Msibi.

Apart from the households not having water, the piggery also poses a huge problem. After the animals had been without water for nearly three days, Marcelle Hoffman from Barberton SPCA intervened and managed to get Sappi to contribute 8 000 litres of water for the 700 pigs.

“We are currently cleaning E.coli-contaminated water and adding chlorine tablets in order for these animals to have water,” said Hoffman. It was dreadful to hear the sound of 700 pigs scream for water.
“Early this year I told the manager at the piggery to start collecting drums and acquire JoJo tanks because then already things were not looking good. This appeal fell on deaf ears. Animals cannot get in a car and fetch water, they are confined to their enclosures.”
“I have also advised that they need to get rid of at least 50 per cent of the animals, but at present the pigs can’t be slaughtered on the premises.
“In order to do so you need constant clean water. The prison farm also has no way of transporting the animals to the abattoir,” she said.

The purchase of JoJo tanks was a lengthy process since it was accompanied with a lot of paperwork, but if they listened when she spoke for the first time, things would have been in place. For the past few days she has been monitoring the situation closely.

By Monday she had already issued four warnings because on numerous occasions since last week, and after all the reprimands, there were still times the animals were left without water.

Navesh Sen Singh from the Farm Animals Unit said, “It’s a contravention of the Animal’s Protection Act 71 of 1962 to deny animal’s access to water”.
He also said a dry sow needs from 10 to 20 litres of water per day and a wet sow, which includes pregnant and lactating animals, from 30 to 40 litres.

On Friday, Barberton Times, in collaboration with Annette Janeke, requested residents who had boreholes on their property, to donate five litres of water to the residents of the prison farm.
Those without boreholes were requested to bring their empty bottles to be filled. On Friday afternoon, some residents collected the water from the offices.

Barberton Times wishes to convey a special thank you to Janeke for all she had done over the past months to assist people and animals in need of water. The paper also thanks everyone in the community who was willing to help on such short notice and requested that they continued to do so.
For enquiries on how you can help contact Anchen on 072-328-7065 or Annette on 083-273-4324.