The Kgatelopele Municipality has blamed cable theft for hampering service delivery after residents slammed the local authority for leaving them in the dark and with dry taps.
THE KGATELOPELE Municipality in Danielskuil has blamed cable theft for hampering service delivery to residents in the area.
This follows after residents slammed the municipality for leaving them in the dark and with dry taps after the town was without water and electricity from Friday to Monday.
The municipality meanwhile said that continuous vandalism and cable theft have resulted in the local authority not being able to provide basic services such as running water to residents.
Residents complained that they were without water and electricity for the entire past weekend.
They said they were left without power after an Eskom electricity pole burnt down.
The residents added that the events have been costly to their households.
“People in other parts are complaining about load shedding, but we were without power for three days. We are experiencing scorching temperatures in the Province and not having water as well as electricity has been torture,” they said.
“Our freezers defrosted and some of the food went off. That has been very costly. On top of that, we were left without water as well.
“We were only notified about the electricity pole that burnt down, the municipality failed to inform us about the water shutdown. If they had told us, then we might have taken the necessary precautions to fill up buckets and to store water.
“How on earth are we supposed to survive without water during the pandemic.”
One resident said that she had had to rely on the kindness of neighbours to survive the weekend.
“I asked for water from neighbours who have boreholes. Another family friend has a generator and we take turns using it. We have schedules for what times each one of us gets to use the generator. I am a pensioner and cannot afford a generator but our family friend has been kind enough to lend me the generator. That way we have managed to save our food and appliances from switching off,” she said.
Residents said they hoped that a permanent solution to the problem could be found.
“We cannot continue to live like this. Some residents had to go to work and had to buy water to bathe and cook. Not everyone has money to buy water every day. Some also had to make fires to cook in order to eat. That is also costly as we have to buy wood. The municipality needs to come up with a permanent solution.”
Municipal spokesperson Nadine Sebella said that vandalism was behind the water shutdown.
“We have experienced constant vandalism of cables over the past months at our water pump stations. The burnt electricity pole has also resulted in a shutdown at the water pump station as the station cannot operate without electricity. Eskom has since attended to the problem and electricity has been restored,” said Sebella.
She added that the vandalism has, however, forced the municipality to come up with an alternative power supply.
“The stolen cables at the pump station had an impact on the infrastructure as well as the provision of water. The electricians had to replace the pipes with alternative types of material. We also had to get a generator in order to continue with the provision of water when there is load shedding. The purchase of these resources is costly.
“We call on the community not to purchase stolen cables or stolen material from the perpetrators of these crimes. It is our own community who suffers due to these incidents.”
Sebella commended the community members and local businesses, including the local mines, for assisting those in need during the water and power outages.
“There were many community members who had access to boreholes or JoJo tanks who assisted residents who had no water. The mines also provided the municipality with water tankers in order for us to provide water to the residential areas. That camaraderie is commendable.”
