Water problems still a big headache for Kaapmuiden residents
After a week with no water, Kaapmuiden residents are finally being supplied with some but it's still not enough for even basic needs.
KAAPMUIDEN – Several complaints have been laid with the Human Rights Commission after residents were left without water for a week. They are still struggling to secure enough water for basic household uses.
The past few months have been tough on the community as water was only available in the evenings. The situation took a turn for the worse on July 4 when the town’s main water supply was cut off.
While trying to find the cause of the cut, members of the Kaapmuiden Forum discovered the supply dam on the nearby Siyathuthuka Farm had been emptied and maintenance work was in progress. Local DA councillor, Ms Mariëtte Preddy also heard about the problem and set about trying to resolve the situation.
She found that the owners of the farm had no idea that the dam was supplying water to the settlement and had thus started work on it without giving the community notice.
DA MP, Mr Ken Robertson also became involved and soon representatives of Transnet, which owns and manages the town, visited the community to see what could be done.
In an attempt to restore the water supply, they found that the borehole pump was no longer working. Transnet bought and installed a new, more-powerful pump to enable the community to regain at least part of the water supply.
Kaapmuiden is private property and doesn’t fall under the Nkomazi Local Municipality’s service jurisdiction. Transnet has its own purification plant in town and residents pay a fixed rate each month for water. This means that the municipality is not obliged to help supply water or send tankers to supplement the meagre supply, as residents had hoped they would.
By last Monday evening the supply from the borehole had been restored to the extent that the reservoir could be filled.
Preddy said this was not the first time that a Transnet-owned settlement had had water problems.
Impala, close to Malalane, also had its water cut off after new water laws came into effect and RCL Foods could no longer supply the settlement. Preddy stated that a nearby fertiliser factory was currently supplying residents with water once a week.
Preddy handed in 19 complaints on the matter of Kaapmuiden’s lack of water to the Human Rights Commission on Thursday morning.
Kaapmuiden’s water supply is currently being strictly monitored as the borehole cannot supply in all 49 households’ needs and it has to be carefully managed to ensure it doesn’t break down.
Water is only available for about two and a half hours every evening so that families can shower and do basic household chores, and a few hours two mornings a week to allow residents to do their washing.
Maintenance work on the dam is also finished and it is being refilled, but the pipe supplying Kaapmuiden is blocked. Residents hope it can be cleared soon and that they’ll be able to get a share of the water and that their situation can return to normal.
Read other stories relating to water problems:
• Illegal connections by residents result in water problems in Mgobodzi
• Not a single drop of water to lose
•Authorities keep a close eye on dwindling water supply
