SPECIAL REPORT | Makhanda: The day the taps ran dry | TammyPetersen87
Mary Mkalipi knows hardship. She has gone to bed without food, and has"ironed" her children's school uniforms under a mattress because she didn't have money for electricity.
The NGO travelled to the largest town in the Makana Local Municipality in February to bring relief to the parched locals who said they couldn't afford to buy water when they were already struggling to survive. Only her little nameless puppy drinks the water straight from the tap, Skaka said. She is surprised the dog hasn't gotten sick yet.
"That dam, we're anticipating, is going to run out of water in about 20 to 30 days' time," Dr Iain L'Ange, the executive director of infrastructure, operations and finance at Rhodes University said in February.The water in the eastern side of town ultimately comes from the currently full Gariep Dam up north, he explained.Toilets at several schools became unusable after water supplies were cut, forcing them to send pupils home.
R30m is being pumped into the James Kleynhans project to ensure that the facility is able to operate optimally to produce the 10 megalitres by the end of March, Makana Mayor Mzukisi Mpahlwa told News24."Phase two will be upgrading the facility to double this, so that it is able to produce 20 megalitres of water by 2020."People queue to collect emergency supplies of water from NGO Gift of the Givers.
"What needs to be done here is to ensure that the pumps are in good working order, that the filter beds are now cleaned out completely and ready to process this raw water efficiently and effectively."Mayor Mpahlwa admitted that water from the eastern part of town was different in colour and taste to that in the west. This was only because it emanated from two different river systems, he insisted.
He was also the first democratically elected mayor, occupying City Hall in 1995 before taking up a position in provincial government, he said. Mpahlwa jokes that he was taken out of retirement to lead the municipality again. Makana Municipality applied to the Department of Water and Sanitation's drought relief fund, from which it received R22m.
The municipality is operating without a director of infrastructure services as he has been suspended owing to"supply chain management issues", the mayor said.
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