Politics certainly seemed to be in play, whilst Laudium residents were once more deprived of their basic human rights, having no water at their homes. Taps started drying up in the area, from last Friday evening with the supply of water to all homes in Laudium, only normalising this Wednesday, about five days later.
The DA controlled Tshwane Council blamed the ANC controlled Rand Water for the lack of water supply to fill up the local reservoir, whilst Rand Water claimed that water supply from their side to the Laudium reservoir, had resumed normally, since last Saturday. Ward Councillor Mahomed Essop, had been in constant contact with both the Council and Rand Water since the beginning of the latest episode of the water crisis and had spent hours each day at the reservoir, with various officials, hoping to fast track in identifying the problem, so that residents could once more have water flowing from their taps. The situation took an ugly turn this past Tuesday, when Essop arranged an on-site meeting at the reservoir, with top officials of both the Council and Rand Water, to address the problem, as to why residents were not receiving the full supply of water from their taps. According to Essop, he was told by the CEO of Rand Water, that he (CEO) does not talk to politicians and asked Essop to leave the site or else the Rand Water officials would leave. “Although I again arranged the meeting, with both Council and Rand Water, in order for the water problem to be sorted out once and for all, as it has been ongoing for a long time, I decided to leave the site, in the interest of the community. I did not want to argue or let Rand Water look for an excuse for them to leave. For the sake of the community I represent, I remained calm and even tolerated the disrespect Rand Water showed to me”.
Protest
The Laudium Sun was inundated with calls from disgruntled residents, complaining of their taps running dry over 5 days.
A protest gathering against the water cut, was held on Monday (August 30) at 5pm, at the main entrance of Laudium, (corner of R55 and 1st Ave) with about 300 residents participating, with some carrying placards saying “we want water”. Although the roads were blocked by protestors and some tyres were set alight, the protest was relatively peaceful.
Comments
Pensioner, Peggie Pillay (73) of Kathmandu Street, told the Laudium Sun on Monday (August 30). “On Friday evening at about 18:00, the water supply stopped completely from our taps. This morning (Monday) at around 05:00, there was a little water that came through, but at 07:00, our taps were completely dried up again. We are going to the tankers to collect water and are bathing at our family member’s places, who live in other areas. I cannot understand why some parts of Laudium have water and why we in Ext 3, do not have water at all. I heard someone closed the valve at the reservoir and now they don’t know which one to open. Why don’t they just get a guard at the reservoir like they had before?”
Yogi Pillay (76) wife of Peggie Pillay, said, “We had to use our neighbour’s car to get water, as we don’t have a car and we are old. How will we carry the buckets of water from the tankers? This is terrible. We pay our water account every month even though it comes so high, as it is just the two of us, my husband and I. I can’t understand why the account is so high and still, we must suffer like this without any water. We pensioners are really suffering these days. The price of everything has gone up. We can’t eat what we want, as we have to buy food that is the cheapest. With the little amount of pension money we get, we try to come out for the month but it is so difficult, as everything is so expensive”.
Veronese Romdeni (28) of Bengal Street, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “The water went out on Friday at around 11.00. Every 2 weeks, Ext 3 has a problem with water disruptions. If it’s not the water, it’s the electricity that goes off. We had to buy water for drinking, as I have active kids. They could not even go to school. We had to go to our family in other areas for bathing. Today, (Monday), the water came on for an hour, from 9:00 till 10:00. I did not even have a chance to fill up anything, because we did not expect it to go off again, but it did after about an hour. To get to the water tankers of the council, we have to walk about 15 minutes. How do I carry the water from there? It’s frustrating. What the hell am I supposed to do now? Yet another day missed at school again and we all know how important it is for our kids to attend school on their days. Ext 3 is always the last to receive water and it always goes off first here. Why is this? We are a part of Laudium yet we are always experiencing such poor service.
Oomie (Oomza) Peera, from Clove Street, who was part of the protest on Monday, told the Laudium Sun, “From Friday afternoon after our prayer time, there was no water and without any warning given. This problem happens about every 2 months. We have been complaining the whole weekend and nothing has been done. They say that the water was apparently restored on Saturday evening at around 18:00, however it was not restored in many areas. From Friday we do not have any water at all. I heard from other residents that the water was running from their taps for about an hour on Monday, but it went off again, without any warning. When we complain about the water, we get different answers from Rand Water and from the City of Tshwane. We are not getting proper answers from anyone, that is why we had no option but to protest, so that our voices can be heard. We cannot understand why only the Laudium area has a problem with water every time. The surrounding areas of Erasmia and Westpark have water. Only we don’t have. Is this some new kind of apartheid now? Because seemingly, the former white areas have no problems with water for as long as 5 days”.
Nassir Allimia a resident from Ext 3 Laudium, who was also part of the protest on Monday, explained to the Laudium Sun about his frustration, “Its Monday evening now and from Friday we do not have any water in our taps. This is causing so much inconvenience for us, as we are 6 people at home. It takes so much water to flush a toilet; 10L to flush once. So imagine if 6 people use the toilet, we will need 60L of water. It’s really inconvenient. Even though we have the tankers that come up to Ext 3 to help us with water, we can’t fill much water as we have to be considerate of others waiting in the queue. We as a community do not blame Councillor Essop because he is trying his best. He is doing everything that is possible to assist the community. Rand Water is giving conflicting reports to the Councillor and the community of Laudium. Residents are fed-up. That’s why the protest action is necessary, so that we can get some results. We have decided that should we not get water within the next 24 hours, we will intensify our protest action.”
Vera Mathibela, representing Ext 3 residents in Laudium, said, “Our grievances are not new, as we have had no inflow of water for five days. It’s difficult for us, as we have to collect water from the tankers. We have people who have Covid and they cannot go out and fetch water. There are also people who are living with disabilities and the elders, who are unable to fetch water. Even the children who are supposed to go to school, have not gone because there is no water. We tried to contact Rand Water, but no one from their side knows what is happening. They are pointing fingers at the Tshwane Council. We need the truth and we need the truth today.”
Ayesha Khan, a resident of Bengal Str, Laudium, said, “I called the COO of Rand Water, Mr Luthuli. At first he said the Laudium reservoir has water, but when I asked why we do not have water in Laudium then, since Friday, he mumbled something, without giving a clear answer. He then tried to blame others and claimed that the problem was with the City of Tshwane. He then said that he would investigate further and come back to me within a few hours. I have not heard from him since then. They are lying to the people of Laudium. We are tired as the residents of Laudium. We want water to run from our taps and we want the ongoing water problem to be resolved once and for all, as it seems like it is only Laudium that has such a recurring problem with water.”
Councillor Essop
Councillor Essop, added, “Rand Water has given us conflicting statements. One insisted that Laudium’s water supply is normal, whilst another stated that they have issues with the supply to Laudium. MMC Phillip Nel from the Council has forwarded a statement in this regard. My sincere apologies for this situation, which is beyond my control. It is clear that the blame game is in play and Rand Water will not take responsibility for its incompetence in ensuring our basic right to access water. I share the community’s frustration at this never-ending saga.”
MMC Phillip Nel
MMC Phillip Nel, of Energy & Electricity, Water & Sanitation, and Regional Operation & Coordination in the City of Tshwane said, “Rand Water is currently unable to ensure adequate supply of water to reservoirs supporting Laudium and surrounding areas. Towards the end of last week, the City of Tshwane established that the water levels in the reservoirs supplying Laudium were critically low. We engaged our colleagues at Rand Water, who indicated they were having water supply challenges, but that they would be rectified soon. Rand Water falls under the administration of the Department of Water and Sanitation and is the bulk supplier of water to the City of Tshwane. On Saturday the situation had not been resolved and it required a high-level engagement with the National Minister, Premier and the Executive Mayor, where it was agreed that Rand Water teams would address this issue to ensure that pressure levels should be sustained. Since we started encountering these issues, we have not had formal communication or a notice from Rand Water to assist us in warning our residents of the shortages. The City understood the situation was dire, which is why we deployed water tankers to the affected areas to support our residents. I then conducted a series of inspections at our reservoirs and was shocked to discover that the City has not received an adequate supply of water from Rand Water, despite the assurances that this matter will be addressed. The reservoirs are now at critically low levels which may start impacting other areas in the city. I must urge all residents in the city to please conserve water. Rand Water has not yet indicated what the challenges are, that are preventing them from supplying the required water levels to these reservoirs, nor how long it will take them to restore the required pressure.”
**According to reports from residents, water flow has now resumed in all parts of Laudium.
