Residents in Galeshewe in Kimberley in the Northern Cape took their anger over shortage of water to the streets blocking roads and set tyres alight Monday night.
The city is without water for four days now after the Sol Plaatje Municipality missed its deadline to restore water usage by midnight on Sunday.
The city had to undergo a major water network upgrade, however residents say they have waited for hours to get water.
One resident says: “Our people are protesting for water because children must go to school and other people must go to work.”
“We ran into unexpected delays. We had to pump out water to ensure that people should be able to work, the volume of water that was still coming out was quite high and we’ve managed now to empty this particular portion, and the next stage will be the installation of the piece that has been removed,” says Sol Plaatje Municipality spokesperson Sello Matsie.
Last year the problem lasted for about a week.
The Sol Plaatje Municipality does not want to give a time frame as to when the problem will be resolved. Meanwhile, Makhubung village residents near Heuningvlei in the Northern Cape haven’t had
access to clean running water for 13 years.
Their only water source is a wetland nearby the village which they have to share with animals.
