Eddie Koch
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela, probably the only leader of an industrialised nation who does not have access to potable water in his own home, has been brought in line with his presidential colleagues from other parts of the world.
A R250 000 pipeline was this week being run into Mandela’s traditional home at Qunu in the Eastern Cape so the president can spend Christmas there without having to use drinking water from drums that have to be bussed into the house from Umtata.
And, just in case political opponents use this elementary service to claim that Mandela has hopped aboard the gravy train, the pipeline has been installed at no cost to the state. The Liberty Life Foundation provided the funds so that water from a current scheme to bring potable water to Qunu could be rushed along into Madiba’s home.
When the president visits Qunu he has to wash and drink from 25 litre drums trucked about 100km from Umtata into the village.
This extraordinary situation highlights the fact that the lack of potable water is one of the biggest problems faced by rural people in most parts of the country. Qunu villagers apparently face major health hazards because they are forced to drink from polluted springs and ground water supplies that often dry up in the winter months.
Although the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry is not paying for the presidential pipeline, it does form part of a larger scheme to remedy the dire water situation in this part of the Eastern Cape.
Minister of Water and Forestry Affairs Kader Asmal had already approved a major project to supply the entire village and 42 000 people living in the surrounding administrative area with water that is expected to be complete by August 1998. Some ”R1,5-million will be spent in the current year to bring the water scheme on stream – and the Liberty donation allowed the president to tap into this supply in advance.