Endless days of no water. Again!
It’s like the soapie ‘Days of our Lives’ on the South Coast – either a case of no power or no water, but without accompanying sense of humour.
On one day last week, dear Eskom decided to turn off the switch in my area from 10pm to 7am.
Usual load-shedding is bad enough.
Talk about testing our patience… on all levels.
Anyway, the fallen public utility is a dark and tragic topic for another day.
I’ve been in contact with a few influential people who are massively concerned about the coast’s ongoing water problems.
I mean, seriously, how long are we going to carry on living in and with this ridiculous, ludicrous situation?
This brings me to an interesting story – the North West High Court ruling in December last year, where the judge ordered the imprisonment of the municipal manager of Kgetlengrivier in North West province for 90 days.
(It’s not in our area, sure, but we can definitely learn from it.)
The prison sentence was suspended on condition that raw sewage spilling into the Elands and Koster rivers be cleared up within 10 days.
Locals had to fork out R7.5-million of their own cash to get this kind of action.
The result? Clear drinking water and the sewage plant is working.
Things that hadn’t been fixed in years were repaired within weeks. And, believe it or not, jobs were also created.
On a deserving note, the residents will get their R7.5-million back from local government, plus the court costs.
This showed just how far a group of frustrated citizens had to go to get basic service delivery.
The question is, why must we fight, spending time and money to go to court, merely to get what we pay for?
It shouldn’t have to be that way.
How it has reached this stage, with millions lost or wasted, is something ratepayers and those paying for water, deserve to know.
Why were these obvious concerns not sent higher up sooner? Or if they were, why were they ignored? Perhaps we will never know.
What we do know is that these residents have now set a precedent – and, in the opinion of many, other failing municipalities should be worried.
On a separate but related note, I was trying to find a parking spot at a local shopping centre this week.
The traffic was bumper-to-bumper and it was a frustrating situation for everyone.
Next minute, the car in front of me pulls into a disabled parking slot.
With absolutely no respect for anyone else around them, the couple proceeds to get out of their car and head into the shops.
The selfish act was a blatant ‘middle finger’ to any disabled person.
It seems like there is a lot of this kind of thing going on these days and it made me angry.
It’s a similar anger that I feel when I turn on my tap and nothing comes out!
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