MyPE

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Riebeek East suffers without water while Makana drags its feet

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Dear MyPE

The DA is requesting urgent feedback and is keeping tabs on the Makana Local Municipality as a debilitating drought is causing havoc in the Eastern Cape, and residents of Riebeek East have to survive with only four hours of water provision daily.

The fact that residents, in the midst of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, are being denied their basic human right of access to water, can be squarely laid at the feet of the Makana Local Municipality and the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA).

Four boreholes, two of which can deliver a strong yield of water, were drilled in the Riebeek East area after drought disaster funding was made available by the Sarah Baartman District Municipality.

A strong, productive borehole that was drilled on land belonging to SAHRA is available to provide the town with water, but the borehole was sunk without a wayleave for Eskom to connect it to the local water treatment works.

The first wayleave document was sent to SAHRA in July 2020, followed by an amended document , which was submitted in September 2020. SAHRA is aware of the urgency regarding the connection of this borehole, but numerous emails to this agency have fallen on deaf ears, and have resulted in a village being severely throttled in the middle of a pandemic and drought.

In the absence of this borehole being connected by Eskom, I requested from the Makana Municipality that a generator be made available as an interim solution to ensure that water flows from the borehole to the water treatment works. The Municipality promised to install a generator, but this has still not happened.

I will now write to the Mayor and Municipal Manager to request urgent feedback on progress made with the installation of a generator and the signing of the wayleave document.

The residents of Riebeek East have suffered long enough at the hands of the Makana Municipality and SAHRA, both organs of State that show no empathy for the communities they serve.

The DA will continue to fight to ensure that the long-suffering communities of Riebeek East can benefit from every drop of water.

Regards

Cllr Cary Clark
Makana Local Municipality

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This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.