Residents in certain wards of Middelburg have been without water for 11 days.
According to Richard Jacobus, DA ward
councillor for Midros, the problem started on 25 June and although he also
reported the matter to the Human Rights Commission, their taps are still dry.
Middelburg is entirely dependent on
boreholes for their water and according
to the Chris Hani District Municipality all the pumps at the boreholes had burnt out as a result of continuous load shedding.
Jacobus explained that he was told on
Wednesday, 29 June that a contractor had been appointed and that
he was on site busy with repairs. “Even
today, upon inspection, I have not been
able to find any contractor on the site,” Jacobus said.
Noncedo Zonke, Inxuba Yethemba Municipality’s mayor, said that although water and sanitation is a problem of
CHDM, she can confirm that constant load shedding is the problem.
She has, however, arranged for water trucks
from the local South African Defence Force to fill up water tanks at the old age home in Midros to alleviate that urgent problem.
Jacobus, joining many other requests from residents in the
area, appealed to the authorities to hand the water and sanitation rights back to
Inxuba Yethemba Munipality. CHDM took over the management of water and sanitation from Inxuba Yethemba on 1 July 2014.
