Glenharvie residents protest over water shortages

A small crowd of fed-up residents from Glenharvie in Westonaria embarked on a peaceful protest outside the Rand West City Local Municipality (RWCLM) building on Wednesday, April 12.

The purpose of the strike was to voice their challenges concerning water issues which have allegedly been going on for two months.

Glenharvie resident and representative of the striking community Jabu James said they have been without water for a long time.

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“We have been running short of water for almost two months and we have been engaging with the councillor to find out what is happening. We are always told that the reservoir is running low. The question is, when is it going to be full? We don’t get any joy and that’s why we decided to stage a protest. We are hoping to get answers from the municipality and be told what is happening with the water in our area

“As it stands, we are made to use buckets to carry water around and to relieve ourselves. That’s because we have no water coming from our taps and into our toilets as well,” said James, who added that they will be doing a follow-up with the municipality regarding how it plans on resolving the issue.

Also read: Water supply problems in Glenharvie

Meanwhile, this is not the first time the Herald has been informed of water issues in the area.

Just last week on Thursday, April 6, the publication ran an article detailing how residents have little to no water in the area.

According to RWCLM spokesperson Phillip Montshiwa, water levels had dropped to just 5 percent at the time as a result of Rand Water’s feeding supply to the Glenharvie reservoir.

The exact areas affected included Glenharvie Extensions 1, 2, and 3 and the municipality had since deployed water tankers as a provisional measure until the supply from Rand Water has been restored.