The farmers of Hennenman have rallied to the plight of the residents of Motseki who have continually been denied their constitutional right to water.
For several years the residents of this informal settlement outside Hennenman have had to walk more than 5 km to the neighbouring township, Phomolong, to fill containers with water.
“It is quite a distance to walk with a wheelbarrow on a badly maintained gravel road to get access to water,” says Maxie Badenhorst, ward councillor for ward 3, Hennenman.
The plight of the residents and the struggle of the ward councillor to help them came to the attention of some of the farmers in the Hennenman district.
“They immediately offered their assistance when they heard about the constant water problems experienced by the residents, who are isolated from a proper source of water and who are often without water for days on end,” she says.
Two weeks after the team of farmers and a Hennenman contractor inspected two of the existing boreholes in extention 6, they solved the problem.
Contractor Stan Jerling helped to clean out and equip the boreholes with pipes and hand pumps.
“This was all paid for by the farmers and Jerling himself,” says Badenhorst.
She says the South African Constitution states that everyone has the right to water.
“This has not happened in Motseki.”
Several water storage tanks are strategically placed around the area, but they have not been filled for several months now.
“From time to time the municipality, if funds allow and contractors are available, will deliver water in tankers to the area. But this modus operandi sometimes leaves residents without water for days or even weeks.”
Whenever a water truck does arrive, residents queue for hours just to be allowed maybe 20 litres of precious water per household.
“There is never enough water to supply the waiting residents, let alone fill the empty storage tanks. Sometimes the tankers that I managed to arrange for Motseki were redirected to other areas and used for political gain,” says Badenhorst.
Even now the residents will still have to walk to collect water. This is not an ideal situation, but at least enough water is available to all residents all the time.
“The residents are extremely thankful. Some have already indicated to me that they will now be able to start their own vegetable gardens to provide food for themselves or even sell some to earn an income.
“There are still many challenges facing them, but this is a wonderful start.”
Badenhorst says we live in very difficult economic times and the lack of proper service delivery deeply affects us all.
“Farmers and businesses struggle under the immense pressure of high fuel prices and bad road conditions, yet they are still willing to assist and help where it is most needed. They stood in solidarity with the community, not only for the residents of Motseki, but the whole of Hennenman and Phomolong,” she says.
