New borehole gives Gomora hope
The borehole is said to provide water to parts of Zandfontein and Kirkney as well.
Residents of the informal settlement widely known as Gomora in Pretoria West recently had a new borehole drilled to help alleviate the water woes.
The effort was a partnership between the metro and Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) and launched at the Malusi Youth Development Organisation (MYDO) Community Centre in Pretoria West.
“The CCBSA approached the city’s human settlements department with a proposal for a solar-powered groundwater-harvesting project to drill a borehole to partially address the water needs of the community. Currently, the settlement receives rudimentary services through water tankers and chemical toilets in the absence of engineering services in the area. This is a result of the ongoing service delivery challenges in the area that continue to affect the provision of water to the community,” said MMC for human settlements, Ofentse Madzebatela.
Madzebatela highlighted the critical timing of the opening of this borehole as Gauteng is experiencing water scarcity challenges.
He also applauded the work of the CCBSA to address a social challenge in the community by maximising its own water-generation capacity.
“Tshwane stands firm on our whole-of-society approach to better service delivery by working with businesses, communities and individuals to make a city that works for all its people. We remain committed to addressing water challenges in informal areas and to providing clean and drinkable water to all residents of Tshwane,” said Madzebatela.
The location of the borehole forms part of the existing formalisation project located on the remainder of Portion 21, 124, 150 and 227 of the farm Zandfontein 317-JR, also known as the proposed township Kirkney Ext 68.
“The borehole is helping a lot of people living in the area and the nearest organisations such as two crèches, the community hub and the clinic. It also gives courage to the community members to start planting, if you visit the clinic there is a garden, here at MYDO we have a garden that is well taken care of,” said MYDO spokesperson, Petrus Maponya.
“It also influenced other community members staying next to the centre to start their garden and they are all depending on that one borehole. So that gives an image that our people love planting but due to the lack of water they don’t have any other alternative.”
In December, stakeholders in the west of Pretoria launched the community hub and water system in the Gomora/Malusi informal settlement worth over R2-million.
Organisations involved included the New Schools of Hope, MYDO and the Ward 55 Forum, sponsored by CCBSA.
The communal space can accommodate 200 people. There are two official offices catering for social and postal services, the SAPS, and hub management.
A resident social worker is stationed at the community hub to provide psychosocial and counselling services.
Maponya says the metro and other stakeholders should initiate more projects such as these in the community instead of awarding tenders that go nowhere near helping the residents.
“I’d love to suggest that the municipality start doing water projects inside the community, start looking into the problems of the sections and stop the tender projects, because those are not consistent,” Maponya said.
“Tenders make those who run them feel very much special in the community because they supply people with water. Yet the community approaches the end of the third month now without water being delivered. The community have just started doing illegal connections of water through Rand Water pipes so this will also put the community in danger because those pipes hold a lot of water that if it gets damaged it will wipe away many people.”
Rekord caught up with some residents of Gomora.
Khutso Matsepane, who stays at Maluleka 3 at Bheki Section says water struggles have affected his life significantly and that of his children as well.
“The water is a big issue, we always have to find alternatives because of it. Our children end up going to school late, or we have to make other arrangements because we can’t send our kids to school without bathing,” Matsepane said.
“The community of Gomora is very big, it’s highly unlikely that MYDO can supply all of us, but it’s playing an important role in the community because they meet us halfway.”
Nkosana Ramabele, who stays at the new stands, says the community of about 2 000 only has access to one tanker which arrives in the morning, those that are off at work often don’t have access when they get back.
“We struggle with water a lot, it’s a problem. The tanker can come on Monday and Wednesday and that’s it, it makes people get greedy because one can come with 20 jugs, another with two and then it causes issues,” Ramabele said.
Kgabo Mashangwane, who lives by the Maloleka Dam side or Venda section says the water troubles have not ceased since she moved into the settlement in September 2020.
“We don’t even have one tanker that side and it’s a big side. We have to travel to different sides of Gomora to access water. I think that the problem with the borehole is that the people around there have taps, we need taps to access the same water as well. If we could have a temporary tank to stop by it would help a lot.”
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