Grahamstown’s beleaguered municipal water supply has again been patchy this week, but tireless local water activist Daphne Timm is confident that progress is being made.
Grahamstown’s beleaguered municipal water supply has again been patchy this week, but tireless local water activist Daphne Timm is confident that progress is being made.
This is ahead of the anticipated influx of thousands of Rhodes students in Orientation Week from 10 to 14 February.
Residents in Joza Street, in Wood Street in Fingo Village and in McGowan and Glastonbury Streets in Somerset Heights this week reported they didn’t have any water, while others in Ayliff, Miles and Spencer Chapman streets reported very low pressure.
According to Timm's regular Facebook status updates, valves were being opened, closed and altered over this week, as the teams work out the distribution of water across town.
She said water pressure would become stronger “once all motors and pumps are working at full capacity and reservoirs keep levels at an even keel”.
Makana Municipality have contracted MBB Consulting to deal with water reticulation in the city, allowing Amatola Water to concentrate on the bulk water supply and all the water plants.
According to Timm, these two teams are working well together and both are prepared to work with local Makana plumbers on site.
Joza resident, Efese Betela said on Tuesday 21 January that his family did not have water.
"Sometimes we have water, sometimes we don't and there's no one who is able to let us know what is happening," he said.
Anele Dayimani of Nompondo Street said the water outages have stretched for as long as three months at a time in his area since 2008.
"The water comes and goes and most of the time we rely on the water truck," he said.
Timm said MBB Consulting and Makana were not ignoring the leaks that residents reported seeing around town, but that the “first priority is to get all valves open and this will no doubt leave leaks showing”.
She said at this point the concern is more about burst pipes and urged residents to report these immediately to her Facebook page or at daphne.timm@pamgolding.co.za.
She passes this information on via her ‘hotline’ to Makana.
Reports of pressure drops are also useful because this helps with knowing which valves need to be throttled.
Timm reminded Grahamstonians that they were “not alone in this”.
“Everybody is affected and not only in our city but many, many others as well – far worse off than us.
"In my opinion, the right teams have been brought on board and they are working hard at this.
"It will take a while to get it all in place – but what we have right now is better than it was last year,” she said.
The Eastern Cape government recently granted Makana Municipality a much-welcomed R75 million rescue package – administered through the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) – to help solve the City's long-standing water and sanitation crisis.
Make your voice heard: some contact details for service delivery issues
Grocott’s Mail reporter Avuyile Mngxitama-Diko was stood up by Makana’s director of infrastructure and engineering services, Thembinkosi Myalato, at a meeting scheduled for 4pm on Tuesday.
His phone was off the hook for the rest of the week. Since local officials continue to refuse to take responsibility for communicating with citizens, you may wish to contact Makana’s Communication Officer for answers on service delivery issues:
Yoliswa Ramokolo, Communications Officer, Makana Municipality, City Hall, High Street, Grahamstown
- (046) 602 4403
- 078 550 2707
- e-mail: yramokolo@makana.gov.za
Or contact water activist Daphne Timm on her Facebook page or at daphne.timm@pamgolding.co.za.
Meanwhile, National government is looking at the situation in Grahamstown with an increasingly critical eye. This is a good time to make your voice heard to them:
- Call centre: Presidential hotline
- Description: Deals with complaints about unresolved service delivery issues
- Telephone number: 17737 (1 PRES)
- Fax: 086 681 0987 / 012 323 8246
- E-mail: president@po.gov.za
