Water crisis in Delportshoop

RESIDENTS of Delportshoop, who have been without water for seven days already, have blamed their dry taps on the “negligence and incompetence” of the Dikgatlong Municipality.

According to them there is also no indication whether the problem would be solved anytime soon by the Dikgatlong Municipality.

“There has been no water for days now. There were some areas where water was trickling out of the taps, but now all the taps are completely dry. This is a huge problem because besides the fact that we have no water, we also face load-shedding, instituted by Eskom, because the municipality has defaulted on its payments to the power utility,” residents said.

The electricity to the town is cut daily from 6am until 8am and then again from 5pm until 8.30pm.

“We are dealing with a doubleedged sword.”

Parents of children attending schools in the area said they were concerned about the unhygienic conditions while one parent, whose child attends Delportshoop Intermediate School, said pupils from the school missed class last week because there was no water.

“My child was sent home from school early because there was no water. If this problem continues, it will have a devastating impact on us as a community. Our children are being deprived of an education because of this situation.

“If we do send them to school, they are exposed to unhygienic conditions because there are hundreds of children who cannot bath or wash their hands. This can result in an outbreak of many diseases. We don’t know if we should keep our children at home or send them to school and hope and pray that nothing happens to them,” she said.

Another parent said the school had placed buckets of water inside the toilets so that the children could flush the toilets.

“I was shocked and livid as my child is only in Grade 1 and I immediately thought of the danger that the bucket poses to the children. The school accommodates learners from Grade R up to Grade 8 and small children can drown in the buckets.”

She added that the buckets were filled with borehole water, provided by farmers in the area. A local farmer, Pieter Jansen, said he had already donated thousands of litres of water to affected community members.

“We distributed water in the Rooikoppies area using my bakkie. We started at 8am and were busy the entire day. We donated about 15 000 litres of water to community members. Some of us are lucky to have boreholes on our premises and this has eased the pressure.

“Water is a necessity and people are being punished. This is unacceptable as they are paying for municipal services yet they are being deprived of a very important life-saving commodity,” said Jansen.

A local businessman, Hannes Slabbert, from Germar Biltong, said that the power cuts were adding pressure to the water supply.

“We have boreholes, but with the power cuts we now have to rely on generators for electricity. Many businesses will have to close their doors if this continues. I spend about R12 000 a month on petrol in order to keep my generator running. This cost is affecting my business and if it is prolonged, I might have to let some of my staff go.

“This, in effect, will add to the high unemployment rate in the town. Some people may think that this is only a cry over water, however there are many repercussions, which include health, hygiene and social ills,” said Slabbert.

A Cape Town resident, Caroline Adams, who attended a funeral in the town this weekend, said she was appalled by the conditions facing residents.

“I grew up in Delportshoop and later moved to Cape Town and I was heartbroken to see how my family and friends have to live due to the poor services being provided by the municipality. People are paying their rates, yet the municipality is not providing even the basic services.

“We had a funeral and providing people with water to wash their hands and to drink turned out to be a huge challenge. Some people could not bath and the bathrooms were just disgusting. We have water cuts in Cape Town, but as residents we are constantly kept updated about the matter and how it is being addressed,” she said.

“In Delportshoop, however, there is no indication about how or when the matter will be resolved. That is totally unacceptable because innocent community members are made to suffer due to the incompetence of the municipality,” said Adams.

The municipality was not available for comment.