It’s early morning, about 4am, and candlelight flickers through a corrugated shack in Bethelsdorp, Gqeberha, one of Nelson Mandela Bay metro’s poorest townships.
Inside the shack, Magda Witbooi is getting dressed, preparing for her daily 500m walk to the nearest communal standalone water tap. This has become a routine not only for Witbooi but many other Nelson Mandela Bay residents — the result of a devastating water crisis hitting the Windy City.
On her kitchen table, two 20-litre plastic containers wait to be picked up as Witbooi sets out in search of water.
As she leaves the shack, three other women pass by, empty water containers in their hands. The walk to the communal tap is a dangerous one. Women can be robbed, raped or even killed, because gangsters are in the area day and night, and in surrounding townships.
When Witbooi arrives at the communal tap, she joins an already long queue. Sometimes the tap runs dry, the result of vandalism or criminals looking to steal copper heads to sell. On other occasions, the tap merely drips, meaning hours spent in the queue, or having to walk another half a kilometre to look for a functioning tap.
Nelson Mandela Bay metro’s water crisis is crippling, and has reached unprecedented levels.
The region, consisting of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), Kariega (formerly Uitenhage), Despatch and the peri-rural areas of Seaview and Colchester, has a population of 1.5 million people.
The crisis is the result of an extended drought, water wastage through leaked pipes and taps that take months to repair, political instability and the effect that has on administration and implementation of projects, as well as poor management of water infrastructure.
As in other parts of the country, leaks have contributed substantially to the crisis. The metro has declared a “war on leaks”, saying that 600 of the 1 723 leaks reported as at 28 February, had now been fixed.
An additional 279 plumbers and water ambassadors have also been roped in, said the infrastructure and engineering member of the mayoral committee, Dries van der Westhuisen. “The 200 water ambassadors are responsible for conducting education and awareness drives by conducting door-to-door work to help us detect if there are any water leaks in people’s properties, and to establish whether there are faulty water meters; this then enables the metro to respond quicker.”
He called on people to protect and welcome the plumbers in their homes, who would be wearing branded clothing sponsored by Coca Cola Beverages SA.
Municipal water distribution and sanitation director Israel Tsatsire said that about 500 000 residents are affected by the water crisis, which is increasing despite a multimillion rand water conservation education campaign.
The area gets some of its water from the Gariep Dam in the Free State, about 400km away, and there are also five small supply dams in the region — Impofu, Churchill, Kouga, Groendal and Loerie.
To alleviate the dire situation, water tankers are stationed at shopping centres, schools and townships.(Max Matavire)
Impofu Dam, the largest of the five, was decommissioned recently because water levels were far below the recommended extraction levels. Churchill Dam is following suit as its water levels are depleted.
Last month, the metro conceded that it could not guarantee the safety of drinking water, and urged residents to boil water before consumption as a precautionary measure.
At a full council meeting in late February, the water crisis dominated conversation, and the council adopted what it termed a “bold” turnaround action plan.
“The turnaround water plan gives a clear line of march to all councillors to commit themselves in action to adopt a water and sanitation turnaround agenda as a priority item with the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality,” said metro mayor Retief Odendaal.
Odendaal said the plan would be integrated with the municipal five-year Integrated Development Plan, adding that it gave a clear path to develop a water demand reduction and water reserve conservation plan, which includes fixing water leaks as a priority task. The plan also calls for the development of a climate change resistance strategy.
“This is the number one risk we face at the moment. It is a crisis and requires all hands on deck. When the taps ultimately run dry, it is the councillors that will have to answer to concerned communities. As political leaders we need to commit through action, working together with communities,’’ said Odendaal.
He called on the treasury and the department of water and sanitation to “walk and work this journey with us”.
To supplement supply in the metro, the municipality has introduced additional water into its reticulation system through untreated groundwater.
The metro’s water distribution manager, Joseph Tsatsire, said residents had been advised to boil tap water before use. “With the addition of unblended ground water into the reticulation system, low dam levels and fluctuations of reservoirs, the quality of water is constantly changing, and cannot be 100 percent guaranteed.”
He said water disruptions would be intensified throughout the metro because residents, instead of adhering to 50 litres of water per person per day, were far exceeding the limit.
The metro’s water consumption should be 238 million litres a day, but current consumption is sitting at 273 million litres.
In July last year, Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu established an intervention team with a brief that included a solution to the water crisis, and long-term solutions to avoid such a crisis in future.
Led by administrator Pam Yako, the team found in its assessment that despite the long drought, there were also administrative and planning lapses in the municipality that affected potable water supply.
Yako said political instability in the metro also played a major role in interfering with the formulating and implementing of policies, because it affected governance and proper administration.
“In assessing the situation and the causes of the water crisis, we found out that while the drought played a role, there were other things the municipality should have done to mitigate the water crisis. For instance, they did not learn lessons and planning from Cape Town, which had just experienced the same crisis,” said Yako.
“There was also procrastination in taking important decisions which, if implemented, would have lessened the effects of the crisis.’’
Other institutional failures by the municipality include irregular maintenance of ageing water infrastructure, poor professional management of the water system and slow decision-making.
Since the introduction of coalition politics in 2016 in Nelson Mandela Bay metro, there have been five mayors, some staying in office for no longer than six months. Each coalition administration attempted to enact its own policies, but being prematurely booted out has resulted in little development in the metro, and added to instability.
Despite the ongoing water crisis, Tsatsire is adamant that the area will not reach Day Zero.
“The metro will continue to receive about 210 megalitres from the Orange River, and this water will be moved around the metro to avoid Day Zero — but we will have intermittent supply. As for Day Zero, we will not get there,’’ said Tsatsire.
Metro communications manager Sthembiso Soyaya lamented the meagre budget for the water and sanitation department.
“The budget, which is also intended to fix water leaks, is not sufficient. The annual operating and maintenance budget of the water and sanitation department is R1.7 billion,” Soyaya said.
“Given the backlog in maintenance of water infrastructure, and competing service delivery needs, that budget is not adequate.’’
Water tankers are being sent to a number of areas in the metro — at shopping centres, in townships and at schools.
Witbooi says sourcing water has become part of her life.
“We are suffering but there is nothing we can do because we cannot afford bottled water. For us that is a luxury.
“We have to drink this water whether contaminated or not. We don’t have a choice. We will have to boil it,’’ she said.
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