Gift of the Givers to be reimbursed for work in Makhanda

THE Makana municipality in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape is determining how humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers (GoG) is to be compensated for its work in the water-scarce town formerly known as Grahamstown.

This after the organisation withdrew its services this month when it emerged that the municipality would pay R10 million to companies for drought intervention work, despite Gift of the Givers undertaking huge emergency relief projects, including the drilling of boreholes.

Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said at the time that on a matter of principle Gift of the Givers would leave the town and take its Jojo tanks and filtration systems.

The intervention cost the NGO R15m so far, said Sooliman.

The municipality changed its tune and said it was assessing costs for work done by the NGO.

Previously, the municipality said the organisation had undertaken to do work entirely on “risk”.

“Currently we are in the process of trying to determine how we can compensate them for the work they have already done.

“Officials from the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency, the municipality and GoG have assessed the work that has been done and costed it,” the municipality said.

It said a report was being compiled to clarify the amount of work done and the costs involved.

“As the institution we are looking at the modalities of paying the GoG the costs of the work they have done,” it said.

The municipality apologised for “any misunderstandings” that occurred leading up to the process and asked that the issues not negatively affect its relationship with the NGO.

Meanwhile, the director of the Institute for Water Research at Rhodes University, Professor Tally Palmer and her team invited community members to experience engaged research at the vice-chancellor’s Community Engagement Award Workshop.

In recognition of her ground-breaking research in social-ecological justice, Palmer received the vice-chancellor’s Distinguished Community Engagement Award for 2018.

The award is a prestigious and competitive annual award which recognises meaningful and committed partnerships between members of the university and the wider public, for mutual benefit.

Instead of the usual public lecture given by recipients of the award, Palmer and her team will host the workshop at Makhanda City Hall on May 30 from 5pm to 7.30pm, where the Institute for Water Research team will facilitate a process of Makhanda residents collaborating to collectively focus on the water crisis.

Palmer said: “What I thought is that instead of talking about engaged research in a lecture, we should do an engaged research activity with the whole town about water, which is our most pressing issue.

“The acute anxiety and impatience around water has mainly produced anger, blame and divisions.

“If we share knowledge and perspectives, and appreciate the magnitude of our water challenge, we can transform destructive divisive blame into greater tolerance and committed, effective, collective action.”

We are trying to determine how we can compensate GoG Makana Municipality Makhanda