Dannhauser’s ‘drought’ continues as many taps remain dry
Dookie and her committee have drawn up a memorandum demanding that the ADM attend to the crisis. “I caught a taxi myself and travelled to Madadeni to hand in the memo to an employee there no senior officials were available.”
The Dannhauser water crisis is continuing with no end in sight as some higher-lying areas have been without running water for over 40 days.
Residents say they are at the end of the tether claiming that water tankers, supposed to be dispatched by the Amajuba District Municipality, have not been seen for weeks.
Farzana Dookie of the local Water Crisis Committee that was formed to assist residents said some areas of the town do get water but only for a ‘short while’.
“Sometimes the flow only returns after 8am after people have gone to work and school and is shut off again at 4pm when those who commute to work out of town are not even home,” she said.
The Amajuba District Municipality, ADM, reported at a public meeting two months ago that the raw water line supplying the town via Chelmsford dam is in a poor condition with ‘numerous leaks’.
A contractor was appointed to upgrade the pipe but was unable to complete the job as the leaks were worse than expected. It is not clear if a new contractor has managed to carry out the work.
Dookie said what was of even more concern was that National Treasury had withdrawn R1.9-million from a national municipal infrastructure grant allocation of R46,6-million and another R13-million from another grant of R70-million.
“This was because the ADM did not utilize the grants yet we sit without water because of shoddy infrastructure. Despite all this, we are still being charged for water that many do not even use.” She said the crisis was borne out last week when there was no water to douse a fire that engulfed a house in Durnacol following an electrical fault.
“We cannot take this anymore – the situation is untenable and is turning into a humanitarian crisis. We are relying on a kind benefactor from Newcastle, Zane Osman, who donates five litre bottles of water that residents come around to my house to fetch. Even employees from Dannhauser municipality have been here to collect water.”
Dookie said the community had called upon the Dannhauser local municipality to again become the responsible entity to oversee water reticulation rather than the district municipality.
“We never had any major issues like we are experiencing now. We have been told load shedding was to blame. But then generators were installed to run the generators at the water plants. Then we are told there is no money for diesel for the generators – there are so many excuses.”
She added that the reservoir in ‘new town’ – a high-lying area in Dannhauser – had been recently upgraded but was not in use as the leaky infrastructure could not feed it.
Dookie and her committee have drawn up a memorandum demanding that the ADM attend to the crisis. “I caught a taxi myself and travelled to Madadeni to hand in the memo to an employee there no senior officials were available.”
