Water crisis: Ekangala residents call for shutdown to ‘earn respect’

Ekangala residents near Bronkhorstspruit have called for a shutdown of the town to protest over water supply interruptions that have been ongoing for months.

The residents blockaded several roads including the R568 at Ekangala and Rethabiseng.

Tshwane SAPS spokesperson Johan Van Dyk confirmed that police were on scene and monitoring the situation.

“Members of public order police were busy removing rocks and tyres and were confronted by the angry residents,” said Van Dyk.

“Commotion ensued, and the residents started pelting the members with stones and broke the side window of their vehicle.”

Van Dyk said no injury was reported and a case of malicious damage to state property was being pursued.

According to community leader Ranketseng Sabi, the residents have spent the past two weeks without water.

He said but for a brief reprieve in between, they had previously spent a month with dry taps.

In a voice note doing the rounds in the community, Sabi calls for a peaceful shutdown of the town, except for essential services such as the police stations and the Bronkhorstspruit hospital.

“This is not a holiday, but a day of us to demand respect,” he says.

“I’m saying to young people in Ekangala, it’s high time we stand up and fight, let’s bring back our respect.”

He said petrol stations, schools, businesses, car washes, buses and taxis should not operate on Monday.

Sabi told Rekord that MMC Themba Fosi visited the area in mid-February yet the situation had not improved.

“Today we are going to hand over a memorandum of our demands” said Sabi.

This is the second memorandum that the community has compiled over the water crisis.

“We want someone to make a decision, and not just promises” he told Rekord.

He said the outages stemmed from problems at the local water treatment plant.

On February 20, Tshwane said in a statement the Bronkhorstspruit water treatment plant was operating at half capacity after a lightning strike had damaged its electrical components.

It said as a result, only one pump pumped water from the plant to the Zithobeni and Ekandustria reservoirs.

“The plant will return to full capacity once repairs have been completed,” it said.

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