Pretoria - There was tension in Sokhulumi township near Bronkhorstspruit on Monday and Tuesday, as residents blocked the roads with burning tyres during a protest over lack of water.
Water outage in the area was, however, not due to the Rand Water power supply failure affecting residents in different parts of Pretoria east.
Ward councillor Kgaugelo Phiri said residents in ward 105 were forced to bear the brunt of going for days without water after Eskom cut off the power supply to municipal borehole pumps.
The power utility, he said, has run out of patience with the City of Tshwane for failing to settle its outstanding debt for bulk electricity supply.
Phiri said the situation was calm yesterday after he appealed to residents to stop the demonstrations, which had turned violent.
A tribal office was reportedly torched, and a truck transporting oranges was set alight during the protests.
“We are still without electricity in Bronkhorstspruit and surrounding areas. This is after Eskom had disconnected the boreholes because the City didn’t pay for its debt. I was told on Monday that the City paid, and it was still waiting for the payment to be cleared,” Phiri said yesterday.
He said the municipality had organised tankers to distribute water to residents as an interim measure to alleviate their plight.
One of the residents, Percy Sekhotho, said: “Residents were frustrated and angry because they have been struggling to get water since last year. They then decided to toyi-toyi because they have been told on numerous occasions about the city’s debt to Eskom.”
Other residents expressed relief after they were told that their water woes would soon be a thing of the past because the municipality promised to sort it out.
City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the municipality was aware of the complaints of water shortages which prompted residents in Sokhulumi to protest.
To address the problem, Mashigo said: “The City engaged Eskom to restore supply and also dispatched water tankers.”
He confirmed that water shortages in Bronkhorstspruit and surrounding areas were as a result of Eskom's disconnection of the power supply to borehole pumps.
He said: “A technician was dispatched by Eskom to immediately reconnect as the utility was not supposed to cut off – the City has credit on that account.”
Mashigo said the City didn't have outstanding debt on the said account it was accused of owing.
Other complaints related to water shortages were also raised by residents in Skierlik near Mamelodi.
There, residents were worried that a power supply failure that affected Rand Water contributed to their lack of water recently.
They, however, told the Pretoria News that their water woes were alleviated this week after the City dispatched water tankers to the area.
Their biggest worry was that water tankers were not enough to distribute sufficient water to all residents.
Resident Silver Nkosi said: “The Jojo tanks that we have here are not enough, and they run dry very quickly just hours after they have been filled up with water.”
He said many people in the area were not on good terms with each other because often they fought over limited water stored in the Jojo tanks.
When the Pretoria News visited the area , there was a queue of people waiting for water delivery by water tankers.
Residents said water tankers only distributed water three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
They appealed to the municipality to consider providing water to them on a daily basis and also add more Jojo tanks.
Resident Oupa Khoza said: “The situation was worse last week. There was no drop of water. Many people went to a nearby river to do their laundry.”
Regarding its effort to restore water in areas affected by the Rand Water power supply failure, the City said in a media statement that it was observing a gradual recovery of its reservoirs.
However, it said, the recovery process was being hampered by the high-water consumption by some residents.
“Unfortunately, it has become common practice that after a few days of no water, consumption is usually high. This, however, puts a strain on the recovery of the water network. The City, therefore, pleads with the residents to use water sparingly to allow the affected reservoirs to recover to their maximum capacity.”
Residents were discouraged from watering gardens, washing vehicles, cleaning driveways or patios and filling up swimming pools.
“Furthermore, residents are advised to refrain from storing water in bathtubs, buckets, or any other container - shortly after restoration - as this slows down the recovery process,” said the City.
Rand Water’s Mapleton Booster Station on Friday experienced a power supply failure.
The City said: “The station, which is supplied from a City of Ekurhuleni substation, affected the Vlakfontein Reservoir that supplies the City of Tshwane. The cause of the power failure was investigated, and it was revealed to be vandalism. Repairs have since been accomplished, and in the meantime, focus is towards the provision of water.”
It further said Eersterust and Mamelodi remained a concern and that a team had been dispatched to investigate the situation, as it was expected that there should be some flow into the supplying reservoirs.
Pretoria News