The water crisis in Warrenton has resulted in a stabbing and several fights, while guest houses and private residences that have made their water tanks available to community members have decided to lock their gates for fear of violence.
THE WATER crisis in Warrenton has resulted in a stabbing and several fights, while guest houses and private residences that have made their water tanks available to community members have decided to lock their gates out of fear of violence.
Community members are on tenterhooks after a resident was stabbed while queuing for water and was taken to the Warrenton Hospital for medical treatment earlier this week.
“What more must we endure? This person could have died,” they said.
This follows an incident where an 11-year-old girl was injured when she was hit by a vehicle on the N12 when she accompanied her mother to fetch water in March.
Warrenton has been without any water since February this year after floods damaged the pipes. Some areas have been without water for the past eight months.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) will be sending a letter to litigate this week because Magareng Municipality has not been providing the prescribed amount of water to households in terms of the regulations.
SAHRC acting provincial manager Anthony Wyngaard said that a water crisis was not supposed to exceed seven days.
“The elderly, sickly and disabled are not able to carry heavy containers of water or stand for long hours in a queue. Households must be provided with 1,500 litres of potable water per week to comply with the SAN241 standards. Water sources must be within 100 metres of residents and must be filled at least three times per week. Containers also need to be thoroughly cleaned.”
Local women will meanwhile embark on a peaceful march from the CBD, Ikhutseng and Warrenvale to the municipality on Monday to voice their dissatisfaction over the non-availability of water and the interruption of the electricity supply of residents in arrears.
One resident, Fatima Seleke, pointed out that the municipality was still charging ratepayers for water although the taps have been dry for months.
“There are no answers from the municipality as to when the water will be restored or what the cause is for the delay. We are given false hope because they told us that the water would be back in June. Residents have to wake up at 4am to stand in a queue to collect water.”
A business owner, Sonnet Bryant, stated that in order to keep her doors open, she had to spend R10,000 on water provision.
She added that residents’ hands were chaffed and broken from carrying heavy containers of water.
“Women as primary caregivers have to ensure that their children are washed in little containers of water and their homes are clean while their husbands work out of town. In the midst of health problems, they have been unable to wash their hands and maintain hygiene practices. People are standing for hours in the queue and the supplies quickly run out.”
Community members believe the service provider that was appointed to distribute water to various areas, is benefiting from the prolonged water shortages.
“There are apparently problems with the contractor and we do not know if they have the expertise to fix the pipes. Sometimes the workers decide that they do not want to distribute water.”
Magareng Municipality did not respond to media enquiries, including questions on how much of the funds that were allocated by provincial and national government had been spent on the project so far.
An amount of R5.1 million was received from the municipal disaster response grant through the Department of Co-operative Governance for flood prevention measures in Warrenton.
The Frances Baard District Municipality reserved R400,000 from its operational and maintenance budget to assist with both the temporary water supply and the replacement of the damaged and collapsed water pipes to restore water provisioning to local communities.
