The Sol Plaatje Municipality in Kimberley in Northern Cape say the residents should prepare for yet another water shutdown.
This is due to a major leak on one of the valve’s gasket.
Kimberley and Richie will experience a water shutdown starting on the first week of April, for 3 days.
The municipality says they will need two days to empty the pipe and the work itself will take around 12 hours to complete.
They say the upgrades will go on for the next 7 years. Residents say they are frustrated about the water shutdown. They say the elderly are affected the most because they have to stand in queues for hours and end up not getting water because of people pushing in.
Resident Mustapha says, “Interruption of the water is a problem for us because when the municipality switches off the water it comes back dirty. So, whenever they bring trucks with water the elderly are the ones suffering the most because the young ones are the ones going in pushing the old people, whereby the old people end up not getting the water.”
Another resident Dorothy Appie says, “The water interruption is a serious problem in our area in Kimberley as a whole. Now, when the water comes back is very dirty and now the problem is we have children who are going to school.”
Gulraiz Abbas, a resident, says. “Restaurants need water, water is very important and in Kimberley every three months , even every night there is no water. It comes at six in the morning and sometimes it does not even come.”
The Sol Plaatje Municipality’s Bulk Funding Infrastructure manager Lucky Moyahi says the valves are not functional and need to be replaced.
BFI Program Manager, Lucky Moyahi says, “We are now faced with a situation where we have a major leak in one of the valves gasket, which is giving in. It’s unfortunately a leakage that we cannot address without having to stop pumping water from Riverton, meaning it compels us to have a shutdown. We expect that the work will take about three days, two days of which will be dedicated to emptying the line, because that valve we have to remove it.”
The municipality has used at least R23 million from the R2,5 billion that was availed by National Treasury. The municipality says there will be several other shutdowns.
