Several Kimberley businesses and organisations have stepped up to help residents during the city-wide water shutdown.
AS FRUSTRATED residents search for water while the Sol Plaatje Municipality tries to establish where the city’s water has gone, several businesses have stepped up to provide water to hundreds of needy residents.
Kimberley residents have been without water for the past two days after the municipality cut the water supply to the entire city without warning.
Hancor Dairy, the One Price Store and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) are among those that have reached out to residents and will be supplying them with water while the municipality is working on the problem.
Hancor spokesperson Amore Serfontein said that they have 180,000 litres of water available, which will be donated to city residents and which they will also supply from their business this afternoon.
“People have been without water for days and some of the residents are not fortunate enough to buy water. Others do not have the storage facilities to store water, which means that the majority of people need water for cooking, drinking and bathing. Life without water is frustrating because water plays a great role in our daily lives. We cannot live without water,” said Serfontein.
She pointed out that this is not the first time that the business has stepped up to supply residents with free water during a crisis.
“Our father had been donating water to residents for more than 10 years. This is not a new trend we are instilling. We understand the needs of the community and we try to alleviate the pressure they are facing. We are not certain how long the city will be without water so we want to assist the residents,” she said.
The owner of the One Price Store, Johann Marais, was also hard at work on Tuesday filling containers of water for residents who were in search of water.
“We have been busy giving water to residents since about 8am this morning. We have already had one 1,000-litre tanker run out of water as so many people have come to fill up their containers. We went to get the other 1,000-litre tanker so that we can continue giving water to the people,” said Marais.
He explained that he filled up the water tankers on his farm.
“The farm is located about 40 kilometres outside of Kimberley. We drive all the way and fill up the tankers. We saw the need that residents and our customers are facing due to the water shortage and decided to give them a helping hand. If the water does not return by tomorrow, then we will have to bring extra supplies of water in order to meet the need,” said Marais.
The SPCA manager in Kimberley, Mario van der Westhuizen, said that residents can come to the organisation’s local facility to fetch water for their animals.
“We have a borehole and people have been fetching water since 8.30am on Tuesday. People are welcome to come with their containers and fetch water for free. Residents with tankers, however, cannot come with their tankers. We are closed for lunch between 12 and 1pm on weekdays,” said Van der Westhuizen.
