According to the Mantsopa municipality’s communication team, the town is without water because of technical problems at Genoa water treatment plant. This morning, it released a statement saying: “The plant is functional and the water reserves have built up to 80%. However, the water team will later on be forced to use the valve control management. This will be done so as to ease the pressure on the temporarily installed water pump. The broken water pump is being fixed by the local service provider and once it is installed, there will be no need for valve control management.”

According to residents, the water challenges have led to greater sanitation concerns. “There is no water in the taps, so the toilet won’t flush either, so I use buckets of water to wash my hands and fill the toilet,” says one resident, who asked to remain anonymous. She says that businesses in Ladybrand have been badly affected, and that people don’t have drinking water. “The owner of the meat business also has to work as clean as possible because of the hygiene risks,” she says.

The municipality has said it is trying to repair the water pumps, but loadshedding will delay the restoration time. “The team will start pumping water into the reservoirs after loadshedding and full water restoration will take place at 5:30 tomorrow morning,” its spokesperson says.

“We have been struggling for five years. The first two years not so much, but the last three years, we are struggling a lot, because without water, how can we practice safe hygiene?” the resident says.

OFM News