Areas around Barkly West flooded and plunged into darkness

SEVERAL areas near Barkly West were left isolated and plunged into darkness, as rising water levels continue to flood parts of the province following the opening of sluice gates at the Vaal and Bloemhof dams.

Residents in Longlands, Gong Gong, Moddergat and Stilwater said they have been without electricity since April 29.

The power supply was restored in Longlands on Monday, May 5, shortly after residents took to the street and burnt tyres on the N12. 

According to a notice issued by Eskom on May 2, the power utility is aware of the outage affecting Barkly West. It indicated that technicians are unable to cross overflowing rivers to repair compromised lines until water levels recede.

A resident from Gong Gong said one of the electricity poles and a transformer had collapsed into the water.

“We may be without electricity for three weeks or longer. There is no cellphone network and we are completely off the grid. Water levels are increasing, and the road to town is closed. The church and houses up the hill are submerged, and no help is available to us. The water keeps rising,” she said.

A Longlands community member added that they were using fire to cook.

“All our meat and consumables have gone rotten because the fridges are off. We rely on neighbours with generators or solar panels to charge our phones. Who knows how long it will take before the water levels drop – we might be waiting weeks or even months.”

Meanwhile, residents in Ritchie protested outside the local water treatment plant on Friday, burning tyres at the entrance after the water supply was not restored as promised on May 1.

Community members alleged that the delays were intentional to benefit water tank and JoJo tank distributors.“Why did the distributors load one JoJo tank at a time and travel all the way from Kimberley to Ritchie?” asked one resident.

DA caucus chairperson and Sol Plaatje municipal councillor Elize Niemann said security guards were instructed to prevent them from entering the Ritchie water treatment plant on Friday.

“We needed to conduct an oversight visit to inform the community of the situation. It appeared the reservoir was full, yet residents’ taps remained dry. People were left without water for seven days.”

She added that water was restored intermittently on Friday to allow time for the purification of water from the canal.

“The extraction pump is still out of order. High water levels damaged an electrical cable connected to the abstraction pump that draws water from the Riet River. The municipality worked throughout the weekend to construct a platform to raise the level of the pump.”

Niemann stated that work had been delayed because the area where the pump needed to be installed was deemed too dangerous to access for the recovery and repair of the necessary components.

“DA councillor Willie Erasmus and I distributed borehole water to households in need, as communities in Ritchie, Modderrivier, Rietvale, and Motswedimosa were affected last week.

“Municipal trucks, with space for three JoJo tanks, were transporting only one tank at a time from Kimberley. While the trucks made stops in Rietvale and Motswedimosa, there was a shortage of supply for Ritchie and Modderrivier.”

She added that she had cautioned the municipal manager and senior officials at the beginning of April that rising water levels could disrupt the municipal water supply.

“In December 2023, high water levels damaged equipment at the Riverton waterworks, leading to a dry Christmas season for Kimberley residents.

“The DA will refer the matter to the Municipal Public Accounts Committee for investigation and will request that officials be held liable for the expenditure incurred in ferrying water to selected community members. 

“Water is a basic right, not a privilege. It is unthinkable that gross municipal negligence leaves residents without water while the major rivers feeding our dams are bursting their banks.”

Sol Plaatje Municipality spokesperson Thabo Mothibi said water supply in Ritchie was restored on May 2 from 5pm to 9pm.

“The water will be opened in the mornings from 4am to 10am and again from 4pm to 9pm to allow water levels at the plant to recover,” he added.

He noted that while the emergency canal is operational, the inflow into the plant remains insufficient. “Therefore, we were unable to restore the full tap water supply on May 1.”

Mothibi confirmed that the electrical cable connected to the abstraction pump drawing raw water from the Oranje-Riet River was experiencing faults. “The flooding of the river hindered efforts to recover the pump.

“Residents experiencing challenges with relief supply are encouraged to contact Mr Saul Maseng at 073 381 5218 or Mr Itumeleng Mokgobo at 066 111 9060,” he concluded.