2019, a year which was cruel to many

Now that 2019 has finally clocked out, it is time to reflect on the past 12 months

Now that 2019 has finally clocked out, it is time to reflect on the past 12 months. We all said, well down in the pub anyway, that 2018 was pretty gruesome and things could only get better. 2019 reacted with delight with that thought and immediately set in motion plans to make us wish for 2018 all over again.
At the heart of the local discomfort were the constant water cuts – ‘water-shedding’ as the practice quickly became known as – with the higher lying areas left without water for up to 18 hours a day, while the lower lying areas had a constant flow. This sparked cries of some being more equal than others, with estate agents being able to add to their usual spiel when selling a property that ‘such-and-such house is in a low lying, non water-shedding area’. The up-turn in late summer rains did not ease the situation, with news it could actually pour for 40 nights and we would still be without water. The reasons for this, Umzinyathi District Municipality told us, were historic.
The Biggarsberg Water Treatment Works can handle 12 megalitres a day and the demand in Endumeni is 11 megalitres. The water works is exactly the same as it was 25 years ago, yet probably 1 000 more houses have been built since and with the increase in population, said to be 60 000, demand simply outstrips supply. Dundee’s darkest day was undoubtedly April 1.
That’s when Orange Grove went up in flames – yet the outpouring of support for the Durham family was remarkable and rekindled one’s belief in humanity. That the iconic dairy is virtually up and running
again and producing is a remarkable achievement and proof of what can be done with planning and passion:
Eskom take note. We also got a new Mayor as the coalition Government crumbled, with Mayor Sduduzo Mdluli promising to cross the Rubicon into the Promised Land. We are a long
way off still, but at least no Mayoral vehicles have been written off since.
There was another dark day in late June, when Dave Yates shot dead several suspected drug dealers in a spree that had the townsfolk running for cover.
The saga ended tamely with Yates’s arrest and then in tragedy when he passed away in custody. The shootings certainly exposed Dundee’s seedy underworld of drugs and corruption. The promises of cleaning up
Dundee’s streets never materialised of course, and the keyboard warriors quickly retreated to the comfort of watching the Rugby World Cup, which briefly brought the country together.
Amid all this was the terrible accident on the Pomeroy road, which claimed the lives of three young girls and a man
when the taxi they were travelling in overturned and burst into flames. The girls were returning from a cultural event and the incident brought into sharp focus the safety of public transport. However, as was the case in the drug outcry, this quickly died down and we have not heard of any other plans to clamp down on road safety checks on such vehicles. Another story which gripped the town with equal ferocity was the Coin-It investment scheme, with hundreds of investors complaining they had not been paid promised returns and Coin-It complaining the fraudsters had ripped them off. The whole thing is still tied up in court and that we will leave until 2020. One of the saddest stories from here and in many other towns was to hear of so many employees who have loyally worked for so many years at businesses only not to be paid – in some cases for over four months. One questions where the Department of Labour is when you need them – probably inspecting offices to see if there is a first aid kit in the cupboard. Hello, 2020.


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