Waterless Witbank: 'R2 to fill up from municipality’s water tank'

Taps in Witbank have been dry for almost a week‚ but residents say the municipality has been forcing them to pay for water from tankers.

A resident from the Reyno Ridge area said a water tanker had come to the area on Thursday but they were told they needed to pay to R2 a litre. “I wasn’t ready to pay for water that comes from the municipality‚” the resident said at a meeting recorded by the Witbank News newspaper.

The municipality has not responded to the allegations.

The meeting over water and electricity crisis was to have be held at the Puma Stadium near the Eskom offices in Witbank‚ but was moved to another venue after police blocked the stadium entrance.

• Waterless Witbank: schoolchildren told to stay at home ‘until further notice’School pupils in Witbank have been told to stay at home until the city's water crisis has been resolved. 

Water disruptions in Witbank came after a main pipe burst last weekend.

Eskom power cuts exacerbated the crisis‚ disabling the electrically operated water purification system.

Eskom cut Witbank’s power because of the city’s mounting debt‚ now at R1-billion‚ but on Wednesday night the power utility suspended the cuts until March 3.

• Emalahleni residents are still in the darkWhile Eskom says it will immediately lift blackouts in Witbank, some residents were yesterday still without power. 

Despite this‚ some residents are still without power and many are without water.

Eskom employs scores of Witbank residents. Some are based at their offices in the city‚ others at the Duvha Power station while some work from the Kusile power station minutes from the CBD.

Earlier this week‚ municipal manager Theo van Vuuren told Times Media that the problems in the city were mainly due to the ancient infrastructure and outsanding bills from residents and businesses. Meanwhile‚ the community has proposed electing a steering committee to deal with complaints.