AfriForum on Wednesday gave the Ngwathe local municipality 24 hours to improve the state of the drinking water in Parys.
The organisation said the results of laboratory tests carried out by the pressure group Save Ngwathe showed that the water was dirty and that E.Coli bacteria was present, meaning there was raw sewage in the water.
“What is of concern is that many people in Parys suffer from stomach problems, seeing as we are trying to prevent a similar situation to what previously happened in Bloemhof, where people died because of contaminated drinking water.
“AfriForum has given the Ngwathe municipality 24 hours to drastically intervene in the state of the drinking water,” the organisation said.
AfriForum said if there was no real difference within 24 hours, it would exhaust all remedies available to ensure that Parys residents have clean drinking water.
The organisation said the condition of the drinking water was an indication of the municipality’s incompetence.
AfriForum said it had provided the municipality with reports on the water works and sewage works as well as what work needs to be done to improve the condition of both. AfriForum said nothing had been done with the reports.
“It seems as if the municipality does not concern itself with the community’s welfare seeing as they would rather poison them than use competent people made available to them to resolve these problems,” says Jaco Grobbelaar, AfriForum’s head for the central region.
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