Municipality submits in Dordrecht after continued pressure by AfriForum

Dordrecht in the Eastern Cape has for the past year only had water in their taps for two hours per week. Continued pressure by AfriForum on the Chris Hani District Municipality however brought a measure of relief for residents.

The problem originated when the Hogseth Dam fell into disrepair and two new dams were built. The bigger of the two dams was built in the wrong location and receives very little outflow, while the second, smaller dam is well-situated, but cannot store enough water to cater to the town’s water needs.

According to a contractor who has done work for the Municipality, the building of new dams was unnecessary. The Municipality should rather have repaired and upgraded the existing dam at a fraction of the cost. The concerned contractor also mentioned to AfriForum that the Municipality, despite conflicting advice from experts, sunk boreholes that are insufficient to provide water for the town. The borehole pumps were much too strong for the amount of water that could be pumped, which led to the hole being pumped dry very quickly, the pumps running dry and ultimately burning out.

The Municipality also announced that they would start charging interest on faulty overdue water accounts from 1 July 2017. Further, the two water trucks that supply the town of water for the rest of the week was deployed elsewhere in the province by the Municipality.

Thomas van Dalen, AfriForum’s Coordinator for the Eastern Cape, on 28 February 2017 addressed an email to Moppo Mene, Municipal Manager, in which Van Dalen reminded him about certain resolutions he made during a meeting on 21 October 2016:

• That the Municipality would appoint a private contractor to take over the compilation and sending of water accounts, because Mene himself admitted that the Municipality does not have the proficiency to do this.
• That the Municipality would send an official to each town to clear up faulty water accounts.
• That a municipal representative would accompany a representative of AfriForum to investigate water meters in several towns.

Van Dalen also requested that the Municipality does not charge any interest on overdue accounts before the mistakes were rectified.

On 2 March 2017 the Municipality held a general meeting to which AfriForum was invited. Thobeka Mqamelo, Municipal Spokesperson, said after the meeting that the Municipality deployed two additional water trucks to the town, will erect ten water tanks and will pump water to the town’s reservoirs three times per week. Mqamelo also promised that water supply to Dordrecht would be fully repaired by the end of May.

“Access to water is a constitutional right and AfriForum will apply all measures to assist the residents of Dordrecht to ensure water supply to the town,” concludes Van Dalen.