Dannhauser’s dynamic community shows what can be done through a united effort

Dannhauser’s small but united community is leading the way when it comes to ‘doing it for themselves’ to make life easier.

For over a decade, the town has battled extended water cuts that have led to protests and anger from residents who say that the lack of water in the town has made life almost unbearable.

Led by the community-based group, Helping Hands, an effort was made to raise funds to drill a borehole in the South Park area to provide water to all.

The borehole was officially opened last week by Mayor Bongani Radebe who was pleased that the Council had partnered with the community to realise the dream of giving all residents access to running water.

Farzana Dookie of Helping Hands said at the official opening ceremony that the recent Dannhauser Homecoming Reunion event organisers put R5000 towards the fund – with others, mainly former Dannhauser residents, also chipping in.

“The cost of the borehole was R85,000 so we needed a substantial boost.”

Fortunately, ex-resident Aboo Khan, who now lives in Cape Town, put us in touch with the Sabri Ashrafi Relief Fund.

“After sending motivation through as to what relief a borehole would bring to Dannhauser, they paid in the money and we were thrilled,” she said.

Water was struck at 80 metres and another 50 metres was drilled that went through four water tables. A large JoJo tank was provided by the municipality. There are three taps and a security fence to protect the pump and other installations.

“In the event of water cuts – which we still get very regularly – residents can simply arrive at the tanks with buckets and take their fill. The water will be sent for testing for quality control and the results are expected soon to make sure it is fit for human consumption. At least people can use the borehole water for washing and bathing. It was good to see so many passionate ex-Dannhauser residents supporting the fund,” Farzana said.

Mayor Radebe paid tribute to Farzana and her committee for their dedication to the community.

“At the moment the borehole does not have electricity connectivity which means a generator has to be used to pump the water. However,we hope to soon put in a connection.”

In his address, Ward 2 Councillor Mxolisi Kunene said he was very pleased to see business people and ordinary residents supporting the fund raising effort.

“We know in some parts of our municipal area people walk for over 10km to fetch water. We have marked 30 years of freedom but still we have people here battling to access water.”

He concluded by urging the community to look after the borehole site ‘by keeping it neat and tidy and to respect the infrastructure’ Siyabonga Khumalo of the Dannhauser municipality noted that Dannhauser does not have a water services authority license and relies on Amajuba District Municipality for water.

“Now with over 1000 new houses being built (near the community hospital) this will put further strain on the water supply.”

The Amajuba District has announced a multi-million project to boost the water supply in Dannhauser and residents are hopeful that this may finally cure the water ills.

Rakesh Maharaj a former Dannhauser resident, now in Durban, who helped co-ordinate the town reunion in February, that helped sponsor the borehole project, said Dannhauser can be proud of its people who came together to meet an urgent basic need.

In his address, Lucky Ndlovu a former councillor and community activist, said other towns can learn ‘from our small community who have shown what can be achieved when people from various cultures, religions and political persuasions work together.’

Dannhauser’s own ‘Minister of Water Affairs’ served above and beyond.

Zain Osman, who lives in Newcastle, became Dannhauser’s own ‘Minister of Water Affairs’ when the town went through its worse ever water crisis about three years go which saw all the taps running dry for days on end.

Zain heard of the town’s plight from Farzana and was touched.

“I could not just imagine what it must be like to try and live without water. We can survive without electricity but not without water.”

He loaded up his small Polo vehicle with as many 5 litre bottles of water he could squeeze into his car and started delivering water from Newcastle to Dannhauser.

The water bottles were dropped off at Farzana Dookie’s house from where people could collect.

Zain did the deliveries several times a week and continued to do until the situation eased slightly.

He never asked for anything in return despite raking up hundreds of kilometres on the vehicle.

‘Giving water to those in need is one of the tenants of being a Muslim’. The gift of water saves lives, which is a hugely rewardable action. Allah says in the Qur’an, ‘And whoever saves one [a life] – it is as if he had saved all of mankind’.

Zain was glad to be a special guest at the official borehole opening ceremony where his contribution to the town was noted.

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