Sol Plaatje Municipality promises to restore water supply

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Kimberley’s Sol Plaatje Municipality, which implemented unplanned water cuts on Wednesday, leaving residents stranded, has promised to restore supply this weekend.

Long queues for water could still be seen around Galeshewe township on Friday afternoon, with people still desperately waiting for trucks to deliver water.

The unplanned shutdown left many residents fuming and some accusing the municipality of incompetence and failing to repair their infrastructure despite millions that have been spent over the years on the problematic pipes.

Galeshewe residents in Kimberley gathered in large numbers across various areas in the city awaiting the water storage trucks. This comes after the Sol Plaatje municipality instituted a three-day emergency water shutdown.

The angry residents, who previously barricaded the streets with rocks and burning tyres, were still without water.

“ Since we’ve been waiting for water from yesterday morning. They promised us that water trucks would arrive, but nothing. We waited until night. This morning, my neighbour called me, saying the water truck is here only to find it has no water,” says one of the residents.

Another resident said, “When I woke up this morning, it was raining, I placed a small container under the rain and used the water to drink my medication.”

On Thursday, the municipality was caught off guard by the high demand for water by the residents. Those with transport were requested to assist the municipality with the delivery of water across the city.

Sol Plaatje’s Executive Mayor Kagisho Sonyoni says, “As a municipality, we went all out. We have even brought on community members to ensure that we intensify and beef up our teams. We know when we normally do our water interruptions, we plan them ahead and we ensure we provide the necessary capacity to all our areas.”

The Mayor says all necessary repairs have now been completed and that residents should soon expect a full water supply.

“The municipality would be able to restore the supply of water to the following areas by tonight 6:00 pm. which will be your broader Galeshewe, your Platfontein and also your Roodepan. The supply to the Kimberley CBD and surrounding because residential areas are set for 6:00 tomorrow evening, our course of action in pumping water into the network is on schedule.”

Kimberley residents say they hope that this will be the last of the municipality’s water woes. Earlier this year, the municipality received over a billion rand from the national treasury to repair old and worn-out water infrastructure over the next five years.