Ongoing water outages in Newlands, Delarey, Claremont, and Westbury left thousands of residents with dry taps for weeks on end, leading to widespread protests that wreaked havoc on traffic and at times became violent.

According to the head of Help 24 EMS’ legal department, Mel Olivier, the plight of elderly people was the first thing that came to her mind.

“Municipal water trucks were deployed, but not nearly enough to fill the need,” she says, adding to that the fact that most elderly people are unable to carry the heavy water buckets from the truck back home.
“This forced them to fetch water in smaller containers and resulted in them not having enough water to get by on.

“We also learned that some unscrupulous people within the community would scam elderly residents out of their meagre pensions by charging them exorbitant amounts to fetch water for them from the trucks.”

Olivier decided something had to be done.

Also read: No end in sight for water woes in Claremont

“I contacted people asking for water donations. My phone started ringing off the hook almost immediately with people from far and wide pledging donations.”

She roped in the team from Help 24 Secure, as well as the EMS department, to help. She also received help from the community patroller group ICE Georginia, and they set out to distribute the more than 20 000 litres of water that was donated.

“We delivered to Eufeesoord Retirement Home and to many flat-dwelling residents in Sophiatown and surrounds.

“The water donations are still coming in, and we’re distributing this to wherever there is a need.

“I am overwhelmed by the kindness shown by businesses and private citizens in lending a helping hand.”