As Parys struggled through another week of water crises last week, all eyes are now on Ngwathe Mayor Joey Mochela’s new Task Team for solutions.
The team met for the first time yesterday (Wednesday 20 November), and consists of councillors represing the ruling and opposition parties, officials and experts.
In a meeting with Gazette earlier this week regular updates were promised by the Mayor and the Municipal Manager Mr Bruce Kannemeyer, to inform the public after task teams meetings.
This follows after problems with tap water supply seems to be unending and have even grown worse in the past few months.
“In Pomona, our taps regularly run dry in the early evenings, without any warning. When it reappears the next morning, it is often with very low pressure,” says Ms Erica Janse van Vuuren.
As a result she started a WhatsApp group called Ngwathe Water Problems last year.
This enables a resident to report water problems after they have been reported directly to the municipality’s emergency numbers.
DA councillor, Arnold Schoonwinkel, told the Gazette that Erica is rendering Parys an enormous public service with the WhatsApp group.
“The trouble is, the municipal numbers often go unanswered,” he explains. “We asked senior officials to monitor Erica’s group to speed up action on complaints.”
DA councillor, Andries Vrey, adds to this, saying that water officials often fail to brief the municipal enquiries desk of problems beforehand, so they cannot explain or reassure residents who phone in.