Stutterheim risks running dry

Stutterheim’s two biggest employers, Anca Foods and Boardman Brothers – with nearly a thousand employees between them – will have to close production if the town’s last remaining water pump breaks down.

The water reservoir is empty and only one of its three pumps are working.

One stopped working in April and the second four weeks ago. Parts have been cannibalised from these two to keep the third one pumping.

The operational pump, technical maintenance staff say, is on “borrowed time”, having carried the load alone for four weeks.

Anca Foods owner Tony Isemonger said: “One day without water and we lose R1.8m.

“After three days we start losing 30,000 birds a day, because they are too big for our customers.”

A spare pump was available in East London.

“We are thinking of buying one for ourselves, so it would be available to the municipality in an emergency.”

Anca employs 600 people, mainly from the town’s three townships, Mlungisi, Kubusi and Xholorha.

Without a steady stream of water, chickens die – and with it those 600 jobs.

Anca supplies most of the Eastern Cape’s supermarkets with brine-free and antibioticfree chicken. Not far away, Mlungisi village has been without water for two weeks since rioters damaged a fourth pump there.

Boardman Brothers managing director Ricky Boardman said his engineering team had a close working relationship with technical staff at the pump station.

Stutterheim falls under Amahlati local municipality, which in turn is under Amatola District Municipality (ADM).

Acting ADM spokesperson Noni Madikizela-Vuso said the municipality was aware of the situation and would appoint a service provider to replace the two broken pumps, and would refurbish the third pump once the other two were in place.