Vaal businesses organise the Great Parys Water Drive
In what has become known as the Great Parys Water Drive, Vaal businesses and individuals donated and transported almost 1000 litres of emergency drinking water to the parched Free State town and its townships after power was cut off to its municipality recently.
Nipping a potential humanitarian crisis in the bud, the drive was organised and launched early last week by Vaal businesswoman Petra Stuart and involved a string of individuals and members of the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC).
The situation in Parys and its townships had become desperate regarding drinking water from 1 July after taps ran dry all over the touristy town and townships such as Tumahole due to Eskom allegedly cutting power over non-payment.
Petra organised a series of drop-off points in Vanderbijlpark – including Vaal Mall, Sylviavale Heritage Village, the Loch Vaal Hotel and the GTCoC offices at the Emerald Casino – for donated water and two deliveries were made to the parched Parys area last Monday and Tuesday.
Prominent Parys businessman and councillor Saal de Jager organised distribution to those in need in the picturesque town and surrounds.
Petra, a well-known promoter of Vaal Tourism, said the Great Parys Water Drive showed that business and people in the Vaal stilll have a great heart despite numerous challenges of their own.
“The Greater Vaal Tourism Area needs to be approached as a functional whole united by the Vaal River umbilical cord despite being divided into different provinces and regions. Parys will also be a good Samaritan to the Vaal Triangle should the need arise one day,” said Petra.
Petra, a water donor herself, thanked businesses and individuals from the Vaal profusely as well as all those involved in Parys itself – many donors outside of the Great Vaal Water Drive also participated in helping Parys .
Business donors, including Petra and husband Bruce of Stuart River Estates and Vaal Explorer, were named as was the Vaal Mall (Shana), SI&R Africa (Kobus Venter), Spur Vanderbijlpark (Rita Benecke), Udolpho Holiday Farm (Okkie Jooste and Jan-Daniel Malan).
The following private donors were also named: Niel and Adele Andrews, Raymond and Tracy Bellamy, Brandon and Tammy Stuart as well as three anonymous donors.
Those involved in organising the drop-off points were GTCoC President Klippies Kritzinger, Jose and Paula Salvado of Loch Vaal Hotel and Joanne Duvel of Sylviavale Heritage Village.
- Eskom said the power outage which led to water shortages in Parys were caused by equipment damaged by overloading and they had requested and received a payment from the local municipality for repairs.
