Makana residents in fight for better quality of water
INFURIATED Grahamstown community members armed with buckets of brown tap water and human excrement yesterday sent a two-pronged message to Makana municipality.
● Residents want the contaminated tap water treated to eliminate harmful bacteria which, they say, has made them and their children violently ill; and
● They want the broke and corrupt municipality to clean up its act.
The Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) is demanding a full investigation into the rot they say runs through the core of the municipality.
The UPM’s Ayanda Kota says they also want it placed under administration.
“This [contaminated tap water] is just a symptom of the corruption and cannot be isolated from it.
“The council must be dissolved and heads must roll. We can’t take it anymore.
“This is a gross violation of our human rights.” The city’s residents were shocked last week by the news that the tap water had high concentrations of e. coli and other potentially harmful bacteria in it, and was unsafe to drink after the municipality ran out of chemicals to treat it.
The protesters brought to a standstill the Eastern Cape legislature’s public participation programme on the protection, promotion, development and management of indigenous knowledge bill, which was being held in the Makana City Hall. They implored MPL Mpumelelo Saziwa to take back to Bhisho their message that they wanted Makana municipality placed under administration. Saziwa advised them to place a petition before the legislature.
Acting Makana municipal manager Ted Pillay gave the assurance the water and sanitation problems were being addressed.
Steps he outlined included de-sludging water tanks, upgrading water treatment works, a programme to address pipe leaks, construction of two major sewer lines and the upgrading of sewage treatment plants.
To make their point, community members left their smelly buckets next to the Makana council chamber. The brown tap water was virtually indistinguishable from buckets of human excrement.