Residents in the Laudium and Erasmia area, are furious as water taps have dried up, due to the water levels in nearby reservoirs going low.
According to the Tshwane Council, the problem lies with Rand Water, which is run by government and supplies water to major parts of Gauteng. Rand Water has confirmed that three of their motors exploded on Sunday, which subsequently hampered water supply to different parts of Gauteng, including Tshwane, as some of the pumps were rendered non-functional. They added that water should start to trickle in, as repairs are ongoing and some areas would get water before others, but they estimate “…time of repair and full restoration of pumping capacity to be Sunday, 11th July.”
Locally, the Tshwane Council has provided a number of water tankers, which have been stationed in various parts of the area, including White Blocks and the Laudium Hospital. A fire hydrant is also being used by residents, at the corner of Barbara Coetzee and Leisching Streets, in Erasmia.
Viz Chetty, of 5th Ave, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “What we are witnessing here as the older generation of today is very shameful. What we can say to our younger generation is that we think that White governance was better than Black governance. Under the White government, we did not experience what we are going through now. Today we have no water, if it is not water, then tomorrow there is no electricity. We were not properly informed about the water cut or the reasoning behind it. I’m old but I had to come to Erasmia to fetch water from the fire hydrant. Bear in mind that we are also faced with the Covid-19 pandemic. Many people are sick in bed and they could not come here to collect water. It’s so tragic that we have such a government today. Most of us were against the apartheid government, and thought that the new government would be better, but this government seems to be worse. It is unfair that we have to go through this.”
Dominic Pillay (80) from Bengal Street who was spotted at the White Blocks water tanker site said, “I have been waiting here for more than three hours. The water truck has gone. They told us, it is going to come back as they have other water collection spots. They have not come back as of yet. We are suffering as there was no water truck near my street, in extension 3, so I had to go to the corner of 19th Avenue and Primrose Street, in White Blocks, where the truck was going to be, but there was also a very long queue there. I heard via the grape vine that full water supply in our taps may only return on Sunday. How do they actually expect us to manage without water for so many days?”
Amir Hossain from Emerald Street said, “We do not have water on Emerald Street since Tuesday (July 6th) and what is worse is that it is in the middle of winter. It is cold, we would like to have a nice hot bath.”
Mahmood Yunis of Emerald Street, said, “As Muslims, when we go to the bathroom, we must use water to clean ourselves. But, how are we going to do that when there is no water? Why were we not informed about the water problem earlier, so that we could at least have been able to prepare ourselves.
I did not even go to work because there was no water.”
*At the time of going to press, many households reported that water had started flowing from their taps.
