A feeling of absolute dejection and rebellion prevails among residents of Riebeeckstad who have suffered water shortages since October last year. Since January, there has been no water for virtually 12 weeks.
To add to their grievances, stage 6 load shedding has worsened an already bad situation.
Riebeeckstad residents have been forced to incur large capital expenditures in the past few months to get water into their homes.
A water storage tank and pumps cost about R10 000, and for these to be filled costs anything from R1 000 to R3 000 per month.
A resident who wants to remain anonymous told Vista that the last time her family took a shower or had a bath was in early December last year.
“Every day we have to collect water from a relative in Oppenheimer Park, Thabong, and we use this for cooking, washing dishes and flushing the toilet. We drive 6 km daily (which works out to roughly 168 km per month) to collect this water. To compensate the family, I contribute R1 000.”
Since January she has been using a private laundry service which costs around R850 per week.
“We also spend R300 on drinking water every week. Our monthly municipal bill is between R3 500 and R4 000, which we are forced to pay even without water,” she says.
She had to lay off her gardener because of additional costs, and the domestic worker’s job is in jeopardy.
Chrystelle Erasmus of Riebeeckstad says if there is load shedding from 06:00 to 10:00, her day starts at 05:00 to turn on the pump to get water in the house from the water storage tank.
“Afterwards we drive to the NG Erfdeel Church, which makes its water available to residents from 08:00 to 18:00. We fill 5 litre bottles for dishes, laundry, and flushing toilets. Then we drive to a bottled water business to get at least 10 litres of drinking water for the day. This routine has been repeating itself for the past six months.”
Cherese Erasmus of Palma Street has a toddler and a baby.
“Last year we had to drive to family in Welkom to be able to bathe the children in the evening. In December we installed a Jo-Jo tank, which costs between R2 000 and R3 000 per month to fill. We also bought a generator for R8 000, and pay a private contractor to remove our refuse. Yet we still have to pay our monthly municipal account,” she says.
Lezelle Fouché of Strauss Street says to be more self-sufficient she started a vegetable garden last year, then the water dried up. To keep the garden going they installed four 200 liter containers to collect rainwater.
“We also used pool water, which I had to carry in buckets for washing and other household needs. I boiled this water on a gas stove. In addition, we fetched five 25 litre containers of water from the church. In March we put in a Jo-Jo tank. We do not have a borehole or generator, and the few solar panels and inverter are not enough to get water inside the house,” she says.
Another resident, who also runs a hairdressing salon from her home, says they pump water from the pool for domestic use.
“When there is no load shedding I fill 25 liter jugs using a pump in the swimming pool. This is how I run my business.”
