Soutpan residents alarmed by poor quality of drinking water

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Residents of Soutpan in the Free State say they are concerned about the poor quality of water in their area. They say they are forced to drink dirty water.

55-year-old Dorothea Mokalaki, who is sickly, says she is forced to walk a long distance to fetch clean water.

“We struggle to get water in this place. We only receive water in the morning for maximum of an hour and then the water is finished and we have to wait for tomorrow and when we get there the next day, there is no water. I am sick, I do not have the ability to fetch water because of the long distance. I only manage to fill 20 litres and when I go back, the water is finished. Mind you we use water a lot, without water there is nothing we can do. We also get dirty water here…when you look at the water inside the bucket you see dirt.”

Meanwhile, the Mangaung Metro Municipality in Bloemfontein says work is on track to permanently resolve the water crisis in Soutpan and other affected areas.  

Municipal spokesperson Qondile Khedama says their teams are currently fixing water infrastructure. Khedama says their priority is to supply adequate clean water to the residents of the affected areas.

“The municipality has invested in the infrastructure of Soutpan and obviously in some of the areas that are struggling. But what we are doing now is to make sure that people do get water amongst other things. We have been able to clean up, the scour has been taken care of and the brown water has been dealt with. People can have clean water that they can consume but we do have future plans with regard to water infrastructure generally in the city because it’s one of the things the Executive Mayor is dealing with to make sure our infrastructure is up to scratch and we are able to supply water uninterrupted.” 

Kimberley water woes  

Meanwhile, some residents of Kimberley in the Northern Cape say they are fed up with the Sol Plaatje’s Municipality’s inability to provide an uninterrupted water supply.  

The municipality has introduced water restrictions, leaving residents with only a few hours of access to water.  

The municipality maintains that the water interruptions are unavoidable, blaming them on ageing infrastructure.  

VIDEO | Kimberley residents hit by water cuts: