Residents of the Hillsview suburb have been without water for almost a week. Illegal electrical connections, kilometres away, at the informal Msholozi settlement in Rocky Drift caused circuit boards of water pumps to burn out, leaving high lying suburbs waterless when the town’s reservoir ran dry.
Experiencing low water pressure for weeks, the supply finally ran out for Hillsview residents late on Friday afternoon. This prompted DA councillor and resident, Ms Trudie Grove-Morgan to find the cause of the problem on Saturday morning. She was informed by a technical worker of the Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) that the town’s reservoir had run dry due to electrical problems with the pumping system. According to her, the municipality had known that no water had been pumped into the reservoir since the beginning of December. No notice was issued to alert residents of this situation. Water is pumped from Nelspruit to supplement White River’s other supply from Longmere Dam.
After being informed by workers of MLM that they couldn’t enter Msholozi to investigate the matter due to threats by that community, Grove-Morgan organised a police escort early on Saturday so that she could inspect the problem personally. “I was shocked to see what it looked like there, and we call ourselves city of excellence,” she stated.
“This is unacceptable,” she commented, adding that ratepayers are suffering due to the inability of council to manage its resources. “The water crises in town will get worse if Mbombela does not take this matter seriously. The people who pay for their services are now suffering. Where is the MMC for technical services? What is disturbing is that they knew about this long before Christmas!”
This sentiment is shared by Mr Piet Skead, chairman of the local ratepayers association. “If Mbombela lets ratepayers pay for services they do not receive, it will leave us with no choice but to withhold our taxes,” he concluded by saying that it may be time for citizens to take legal steps to protect their rights.
In response Mr Joseph Ngala, spokesman for MLM, said that the electrical circuit boards would be replaced on Monday (January 6) and that a type of water load-shedding will be implemented in White River. He said that only high-lying suburbs had been affected, but that residents will not feel the effect of water shortages this week. According to Ngala, the illegal connections seem to have been performed by professionals and this is being investigated and criminal charges may be imminent. In addition he expressed his dismay that this kind of activity is costing MLM money and affecting its ratepayers. “I hope that now the three spheres of government can get together and urgently finalise an integrated human-settlement plan,” he said.
Meanwhile, residents of Hillsview are attempting to cope with the situation. According to one such man a water truck was sent on Sunday, “So people had to collect water with buckets and whatever utensils, but the sad thing is that the truck came in the morning, so those who had already left for church – hard luck, there was no water for them,” he said.
Other parts of town are also experiencing problems. Ayesha Akoojee says her mother, who stays near the centre of town, has not had a drop of water since December 31 until today and Angelique Coetzee, in the same suburb said, “We have water but the pressure is so horrible that we have to run a bath for an half an hour before we can actually bath in 10cm levels. It’s ridiculous! Don’t even try the shower as it only trickles enough to get your face wet.”
Mbombela has not yet commented on why no measures were taken when it first learnt of the problem at the beginning of December. Ngala did confirm that security measures would have to be reinstated at Msholozi to prevent future illegal connections. He urged residents to report any such activity to the council at 013-759-9304.
Latest information received on Monday night is that Mbombela has started pumping water at Phumalani and that the situation should improve. The council will continue to monitor the situation.
