Daily Dispatch

Mnquma’s dry taps a mystery

THE country is still reeling from one of the worst droughts in recent history. Our province has been severely affected by the dry spell.

It is not only the agricultural sector that is counting the costs but also households and businesses as taps have run dry in some areas.

One of the areas hardest hit by the water crisis is Butterworth, where dam levels are said to be at their lowest – resulting in some communities being without water for weeks on end. Those affected include the local hospital and the Butterworth campus of the Walter Sisulu University.

Registration for first-year students could not take place yesterday as staff embarked on a strike in protest over the lack of water.

While such frustrations are to be expected during a drought situation, it is the emergence of business people who are cashing in on the crisis which is worrisome.

In yesterday’s paper we reported that two businessmen, Similo Mliva and Richard Nobani, were selling water – that they apparently get from the municipality’s reservoirs – to residents for R600 per 2500-litre tank. Mliva was quoted as saying: “We are getting the water from the municipality and sell it to those who can afford it.

“It’s a business to us and we will make better money if this is prolonged.”

In an area where the annual average income for households is R14 600, this is unacceptable. This means that the majority of people in the area cannot afford the water.

Butterworth is the seat of the crisis-ridden Mnquma municipality, which falls under Amathole District Municipality.

The district is responsible for bringing water to the affected areas but seemingly this has not been happening – and where it is happening the service has been intermittent.

Perhaps we should not begrudge Mliva and Nobani for their entrepreneurial spirit.

Maybe they saw a gap in the market (read lack of service delivery by the municipality) and took it. But something is amiss about this affair. If the municipality has enough water in its reservoirs for the likes of Mliva and Nobani to fill up their trucks and sell to desperate communities, then why is it not delivering the water to the poor?

This does not make sense and requires further investigation.

No one is accusing the two businessmen of any wrongdoing. But what needs to be explained is how are they able to access the same reservoirs that cannot pump water to the taps of the Butterworth community?

Is it because of the collapse of corporate governance in the municipality?

Or is someone within the municipality manipulating the crisis to make a quick buck?

Already the World Meteorological Organisation has reported that 2016 was the hottest year on record.

This is a result of global warming, which means that we will have more droughts going forward as temperatures continue to rise. As bad as the situation is, the last thing we need is for some people to manipulate the situation. Water is life and should not be commodified.