Grootgewacht water held hostage by workers

By Elaine Rodway

ACCORDING to a recent post on social media by local community stalwart, Doug Grewar, it appears that municipal workers have been holding Vryheid to ransom.

In the post, he alleges that, upon speaking with workers at the Bloemveld Treatment Plant, it was confirmed that they refused to open the taps to release water from the almost full Grootgewacht Dam to Bloemveld.

Upon further investigation, it was also alleged that the workers were disgruntled about a dispute over either wages or promotions promised to them and refused to open the valves until their demands were met.

While Vryheid residents are left in the dark as to what is actually going on with the water situation, the water supply, which has been cut off for differing periods of time throughout town, was returned to Vryheid on Tuesday morning, along with warnings that the water would not be fit for human consumption until properly treated.

The return of the water supply only a day before a by election has left some community members with raised eyebrows as to the motives of this move, which could be detrimental to the ill-maintained asbestos pipes below the surface of Vryheid.

When we contacted the elusive Manager of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Mr Wandile Dlamini, he was unable to provide us with comment. He did however elude to the fact that the Director was dealing with the situation at Grootgewacht Dam.

In another post on social media, which has been abuzz with discussions about the water situation, local resident, Elsie Moolman, stated “…my personal view is that the water from Grootgewacht Dam should be managed very carefully. At this point in time that is the only reserve water we have. If it is not managed properly we are back to square one in two weeks time.”