Editor – It is very nearly a year gone by since the people of Roosboom rose up in protest because of the lack of potable water and yet there is still no sign of piped water anywhere near being available to all residents.
This protest last year turned violent, with infrastructure being destroyed and running battles between protesters and the police.
The R103 road, a major road for the economy, was blockaded. After the protests ended, there was a flurry of truck water tankers that were sent in, but still residents did not receive water on a daily basis. Sadly, the frequency of deliveries has since tailed off. So the poor people of Roosboom and many rural communities carry on their daily lives without a daily supply of water, an absolute necessity of life.
The bulk supply of water in the uThukela district was long ago exhausted and instead of placing emphasis on the massive expansion of the bulk water supplies, the ANC administration has instead continued to raise the expectations of rural communities, who expect piped water supplies to be provided almost immediately.
The reality is that the project to increase the bulk supply of water is only now getting off the ground and very slowly at that.
The design has been delayed because apparently there has not been enough money to pay the design team.
Despite the desperate need for water and the lack of money, the ANC spend money on lavish parties and festivals, luxury cars for the mayor, and huge bonuses for managers who have failed to ensure that the water supplies are rapidly expanded.
It will be months or probably years more before all the environmental and other hurdles are crossed and the project construction can start, let alone produce large volumes of clean water.
Then the question is where the huge amount of money required is going to come from, as uThukela do not have funds and the national budget is under huge strain. 20 years into democracy, do the ANC really care about the very people who suffered under apartheid? Apparently not.
