The irony of the words “please use water sparingly” did not go down well with residents who are suffering from the water outage that has affected Matjhabeng since Friday morning.
The no-water situation affected every town and hamlet in Matjhabeng, from Odendaalsrus to Ventersburg.
By Tuesday morning outlying areas like Riebeeckstad, Hennenman, Phomolong and Mmamahabane were still without water.
Residents are becoming increasingly despondent over state of affairs
Maxi Badenhorst, ward councillor for Henenman and surrounding areas (ward 3) says that there has not been water in this ward since Friday (11/11).
On Wednesday morning at 05:00 the water levels in Matjhabeng were at 15%. Brabant and Ventersburg were at 0%, and Brabant and Hennenman pumps were not operating.
Badenhorst says people are asking her what she is doing about the situation.
“What more can I do. I have spoken to the officials and the managers and the heads of department. I spoke to the Mayor on Wednesday morning and he sounded very unaware of the circumstances. I will submit an official complaint again today,” she says.
A resident of Riebeeckstad says that the water was switched off at 07:00 on Friday. By Wednesday, the town has gone six days without water.
Badenhorst says Ventersburg taps ran dry on Tuesday, and has joined the list of waterless towns in Matjhabeng.
“The levels in the dams are not increasing because of water usage in Thabong and other areas. If they close Odendaalsrus and Kutlwanong during the night, the system runs empty and the little that builds up in the reservoir during the night then flows out into the system when they open the valves again. I predict we won’t be getting water back in these areas any time soon,” says Badenhorst.
How much patience? It’s two days no water! What about washing clothes, babies’ washing, using the toilet, cooking food and washing dishes and bathing,” wrote Thea Londt on Facebook on Saturday.
On Saturday, when Bloem Water asked residents to be patient, they lashed out on Facebook.
“How much patience? It’s two days no water! What about washing clothes, babies’ washing, using the toilet, cooking food and washing dishes and bathing,” wrote Thea Londt on Facebook on Saturday.
The water outage followed the flooding and destruction experienced after the thunderstorms, accompanied by hail and strong winds on Thursday night.
Add to this loadshedding catastrophes where suburbs like Bedelia were without electricity from 22:00 on Thursday night, when scheduled loadshedding started, to 10:00 (12 hours later) on Friday morning.
This was because of cable theft at the substation feeding these areas.
The latest water-shedding occurrences are actually more than a year old, and happens continually every month when the scheduled chemicals to clean the water are not delivered on time. This always results in large areas in Matjhabeng being without any water for more than a week.
The chemical delivery was expected on Friday, and then Saturday but eventually arrived on Sunday.
By the time the chemicals were delivered (either Saturday or Sunday) all of the reservoirs had run dry, and first had to start filling before the pumps could be activated. Low lying areas started getting water late Sunday evening.
On Monday morning the water levels at Brabant (Hennenman), and Ventersburg were still at 0% and the pumps at Brabant and Ventersburg could not be activated. This caused a flurry of words and emotions when residents in Riebeeckstad, Hennenman and Ventersburg realised they might only expect water by Thursday this week, or even Saturday – based on past experiences in this recurring hinderance.
Residents with water storage tanks in the affected towns say by Tuesday they had been without water five days and counting, and their tanks almost depleted.
