Residents in Kimberley are up in arms on social media platforms about the lack of proper communication and transparency from the Sol Plaatje Municipality on the latest water interruption which commenced on Tuesday, 5 September.
This follows the recent five day – in some town areas even up to 11 days – planned water interruption to amongst other repair leaking pipes and do maintenance on the main supply lines from Riverton.
“The circus that’s Sol Gaatjie municipality… there’s sooo many stories about why our water is off againnnn ?– the residents can’t keep up,” wrote Lanese Theron on the Facebook page Kimberley Infrastructure.
“Last night it was stated that a pump burnt. Now today it is a pipe burst. I do not understand a pipe burst. All the pipes leading from the pump stations at Riverton are steel as the 965 and 600 lines that they feed. My opinion is that the manifold that they welded at the last shutdown has cracked again at the welding see my previous report in connection with this manifold. Sol are not open with us,” is the opinion of Henry Meier.
An anonymous participant wrote: “I would just like to ask the incompetent management team of Sol Plaatje Municipality what was the purpose of the 6 day shutdown we had last month if we still don’t have water… your service delivery is the worst in the country… the city is dirty, we hardly have water, the most expensive in the country for prepaid electricity… I’m tired of waking up and there’s not water… coming home from work and there’s no water… a simple basic human right that is being exploited.”
On Tuesday, the following message from the Sol Plaatje Municipality was distributed on social media platforms:
“Water interruption in Galeshewe: Sobantu; 5 September 2023. There is a major burst pipe in Sobantu, in Galeshewe. In order to repair the burst pipe our waterworks department had to switch off the valve behind Shoprite which feeds the surrounding areas in order to repair the burst. This will affect parts of Galeshewe. Residents will therefore notice low pressure to no water from their taps. Once repairs are complete water will be restored to the affected areas.”
The following communication was also received from the municipality on Tuesday:
“Parts of the city will notice low pressure to no water from their taps, this is due emergency maintenance repairs that are being done at Riverton, water will thus be off for a short period, and for the system not to run dry we have had to switch off Newton as well. As soon as the repairs are complete, water will be restored in the city during the night.”
Today, on 6 September at 11:45, Thoko Riet from the municipality stated:
“We have completed repairs on the 900 mm manifold in Riverton. We have started pumping, which means areas like Roodepan and parts of Galeshewe that are directly fed from Riverton have started getting water.
“Residents that are fed from Newton (town areas) will experience low pressure as we are still running with only one pump. More updates will follow. We regret the inconvenience.”
Today, 6 September at 15:50, the following communication was received from the municipality:
“We are aware that Residents that receive water supply directly from the Newton Reservoir (town areas) either have not had their water supply fully restored or the water pressure is low but will improve through the day.
“Nightly water interruptions will be implemented from tonight at 20:00 to 04:00 until we have reached full capacity at the reservoir which will then be communicated to residents.”
In the meantime, residents are sitting with dry taps, with no further communication from the municipality on if and where any water tankers will be distributing water; while realising a next water interruption will be unavoidable.
