DEAR Editor,-
Last weekend, the entire Ugu district’s water supply was flooded with salt water. This is undoubtedly a regional disaster of epic proportions.
While we can all relate to the logistic implications of this crisis, there are two areas that are disturbing to me. The first is municipality’s lack of communication regarding this matter. There should have been a greater effort to communicate immediately and warn residents in all areas. In today’s age of vast communication methods like social media and radio, there is simply no excuse for not immediately sending out messages to various communities. Whoever the spokesperson or media relations officer is, they did a poor job. Shame on you!
Going forward, how does the municipality plan on communicating clearly with communities about water trucks and supplying drinking water far and wide along the coast?
The second is, this disaster has long-term implications, such as the damage being done to pipes, taps, appliances and geysers. Not many community members are in a position to replace or repair appliances once rust takes hold and they no longer function? Who is going to bear the cost of helping poorer communities? Shame on the municipality for the added burden to the sick, elderly, very young and poor who are now trying to deal with this disaster.
Mistakes happen and human error is unavoidable, after all this is Africa and anything is possible, but responsibility must be taken to protect, warn and then adequately address the problem the municipality has caused.
There is still no real communication from the municipality regarding how long this problem is going to last and it is not good enough to wait until newspapers are published. This is how frustration and anger boil over, resulting in protests and riots. And we would do well to avoid that.
FRUSTRATED, ANGRY RESIDENT
