Alice agricultural school hit by water crisis

PHANDULWAZI Agricultural High School in Alice has been hit hard by a water crisis in Raymond Mhlaba municipality and was last week forced to close its doors.

The boarding school, which has 400 pupils from as far as Port Elizabeth and rural areas in the former Transkei, last week ordered pupils home as the school could not keep them when there was no water for drinking or ablutions.

Phandulwazi principal James Thomas said the water crisis, which was claimed to be infrastructure related, had badly affected teaching and learning at the school.

Thomas said pupils had since been instructed to return to the school after the Amathole district municipality (ADM) started carting in water to the villages.

However, he cautioned that one tanker of water daily was “not enough”.

“Besides pupils and staff, the school also has a 249-hectare farm, with cattle, chicken, pigs and crops,” Thomas said.

Teachers and pupils have now returned to school and a catch-up plan has been devised.

Thomas said this would include “morning and afternoon classes” to assist pupils to complete all their outstanding work.

A councillor in the municipality, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Dispatch that at least 23 villages, five high schools and 11 primary schools had been affected by the water crisis.

“Taps have run dry and people have to walk more than four kilometres to fetch water from Tyhume river, which is used by cattle and pigs,” he said.

Upper Tyhume villager Mzoxolo Jibela said no one had told them what the problem was.

“We have voted these people into power and now they are taking us for granted. My Jojo tanks at home have also run dry and I have cattle, sheep, pigs and goats that I have to take to the river every day,” he said.

“We understand that all dams are full and if it’s a mechanical problem they should have at least sent their trucks to cart in water.”

ADM spokesman Siyabulela Makunga said the crisis followed electrical problems at a pump station that supplies the villages.

“ADM is making use of its own water tankers to cart water to the affected areas, at a considerable cost,” he said.