The DA has launched a petition in protest of escalating and unresolved water issues in Hanover, that will run throughout the holiday season.
This comes as frustrations regarding ongoing water contamination and intermittent water shortages that are affecting households and businesses, boil over. Guest houses are particularly suffering, given that travellers, who would usually overnight in Hanover, are cancelling their bookings due to the water situation.
A notice from Pixley ka Seme District Municipality stating that E.coli had been found in Hanover’s water, and advising people to boil their water, was distributed to all residents by Emthanjeni municipality. Apparently, “the cause of the water failure is being investigated”. See notice here.
Despite more than three weeks having passed since the notice was issued, water challenges seem to be worsening and not improving.
No further communication in respect of water quality has been issued by either Emthanjeni or Pixley ka Seme municipalities.
Residents of the town centre, who over the years have become accustomed to disruptive water supply, have been experiencing extremely low water pressure, as repairs of burst pipes are not attended to.
Joe Slovo residents are experiencing low water pressure to no water at all and are provided with bad smelling water, that gets trucked in from De Aar. Instead of the municipality turning all the valves off, so that the reservoirs can fill up, they instead only turn the valves off for Joe Slovo, so that the ANC stronghold in Kwezi continues to be provided with uninterrupted water supply.
Last week, Emthanjeni municipality promised to address the Joe Slovo matter, and to present me with a response, which is not forthcoming. The Department of Water and Sanitation also committed to respond to the greater Emthanjeni water crisis by Friday, but I am still waiting.
Given that Hanover’s longstanding water challenges continue to take a back seat by authorities that should be prioritising them, the DA has initiated a petition. We will be gathering signatures from residents who face a dry festive season, to demand transparency in respect of the Hanover water contamination and that solutions are urgently sought to ensure the sustainable provision of clean water to residents.