Council under fire after water crisis

eMBALENHLE – Despite Govan Mbeki Municipality and Sasol dispatching water carts during the recent water crisis, locals were frustrated and not happy at all.

The problem began on Friday, 9 March when a 500mm main water supply pipe burst in Kinross. It took the municipality seven days to fix it.

During the crisis the municipality and Sasol supplied water to the community via water tanks.

Also read: [VIDEO] Hundreds of residents from eMbalenhle queue for water at the Sasol water trucks

Thandiwe Mndawe, a resident, said: “How can such a big municipality struggle to fix a burst pipe? Do we even have engineers in this municipality?

“Water is a basic need, how are we be expected to be without water for over a week? This municipality has proven that it does not care about the needs of the people.

“Though there were water tanks, the queues were very long and the elderly and people living with disabilities were not considered.

“We hope Council have learned from this lesson and that this will never happen again.”

Govan Mbeki Municipality announced on 15 March that water would be restored by 6pm, but that did not happen.

Mr Bheki Kubheka, senior manager in the office of the municipal manager, said this was because they were waiting for the reservoir to fill up to 30 per cent before they could begin to supply water.

Some parts of eMbalenhle began to have water on 16 March, while others were still without water on 19 March.

Locals lambasted the municipality on social media and voiced their frustration on Mr Mmangaliso Mashiane’s Facebook page. He kept the community up to date all the time.

They complained about the municipality’s schedule for the water truck and the conduct of some councillors and community leaders.

Mr Kubheka later said: “The delays were due to the fact that we had to open the valves at the lowest pressure to monitor that there were no more leaks.

“We have now fully opened the allowed pressure as guided by Rand Water and hope that everything will be back to normal.”

Opposition parties slamed the municipality for the water crisis in the area.

The Democratic Alliance said it was disappointed with the way in which the crisis was handled.

Ms Marikie Fourie, councillor, said: “We were disappointed by the lack of specialised knowledge within the Govan Mbeki Municipality to do the repairs from day one.

“The lack of transparency about the time when the water would be restored, had a huge impact on the community.

“Children had to go to school without bathing and the elderly were severely affected.”

Sakhisizwe Progressive Movement believed there will be worse problems under the leadership of Ms Thandi Ngxonono, executive mayor.

Mr Sibusiso Hlolweni, leader, said: “Just under a month in her leadership and we experienced the worst water crisis ever.

“In her short spell as the mayor, we experienced a vicious, undesirable threat to the standard of living and quality of life, which is a threat to the sustainable development goals.

“The water crisis alone violated the sustainable development goal number six and the Constitution of South Africa.

“Should the municipality be rated on the Social Progress Index, we believe without a doubt that it will lie below any municipality of its type in the world.

“However, this might sound like Chinese to the mayor, who Sapromo believes does not even care to create a conducive environment for investors in Govan Mbeki Municipality.

“Failure to fix one small pipe in seven days has proven that Ms Ngxonono cannot be trusted to lift the municipality to its former glory.

“During this water crisis she failed dismally to provide leadership. The community has been battling for a drop of water, while she was hibernating for the whole period.

“If the council really cares about the well-being of the residents of this municipality, it must remove the current mayor who was illegally put into power.”

Learning and teaching were affected by the water crisis as learners were sent home.