Issue 168 - FREE
23 MARCH 2018
Community News. Original - accurate - first
017 631 1903 / 017 631 1845 • admin@thebulletin.co.za • 1 Kiewiet Street, Secunda (Lake Umuzi)
eMbalenhle runs dry “Water is life!” a little boy shouted as a water-laden truck was offloaded at Tholukwazi Primary School in eMbalenhle. By then, residents of the town had gone without water for six days, during which the municipality worked on repairing a burst water supply pipe between Evander and eMbalenhle, beginning on Friday 9 March. The water drop-off was an initiative of PWC, The Bulletin Newspaper, Roos & Rosslee and Secunda Marathon Club that included water left over from refreshments handed out to participants of the Kosmos 3-in-1 marathon. Numerous boxes were sent to the school, as opposed to being returned to their supplier. The situation has epitomised the term ‘crisis’, and proven that water is indeed life, interrupting even the most mundane daily activities of eMbalenhle residents. Learners have missed school, laundry has gone unwashed, and getting the recipe right is no longer the greatest challenge involved with cooking. eMbalenhle resident, Silindile Khumalo, said that it had become unbearable. “Even a simple thing like washing our pots is difficult. They sit in the kitchen for days and stink up the house because we do not have enough water for everything, even if we collect some from the trucks,” she said. These trucks were dispatched by the council of Govan Mbeki Municipality in an attempt to provide relief to the community. Daily, hundreds of locals queue hours before the arrival of the water trucks, bearing buckets, bottles and wheelbarrows. Khumalo’s colleague, Siboniso Mabuza, said the water crisis could no longer be viewed as just a minor inconvenience. “We have to come to work everyday without having bathed properly, and our uniforms need to be washed, too; it is uncomfortable,” he said. As daily commuters who travel between eMbalenhle and Secunda for work, Khumalo and Mabuza have resorted to buying 5 litre bottles of water after work and taking them home in the evenings. “It is becoming expensive for us, but we barely have a choice,” Khumalo said. Perhaps the most pressing effect of the ordeal is its disruption of school
activities. On several days, learners were sent home early because without water, schools are less conducive for learning. With hundreds of students attending each school, it became an increasingly alarming situation, particularly in the way of hygiene. Mrs Ramphisa, a teacher at Tholukwazi Primary School, expressed concern over the use of lavatories during the crisis. “So many students and staff use the toilets during a single school day.
It is unhygienic, considering the fact that we can neither flush nor wash our hands,” she said. The school also has a feeding scheme for learners, but because water is such a necessity in the preparation of food, this was also interrupted. Eventually, students were no longer being let out early, but rather told to stay home altogether. Without clean school uniforms, meals at lunch time and adequate sanitation, the
predicament demanded the suspension of school activities. As such, it was a hindrance to the already pressured curriculum. Apart from these inconveniences, the water crisis posed a threat to the community’s basic human right to water. At the time of publishing, water supply had been restored to most of eMbalenhle, but the people of extensions 14, 15 and 21 were still in dire need of relief. – Rorisang Rathebe
“Secunds” – Dorp van die jaar? “Secunda is bekend vir sy ‘exciting’ naglewe, mooi natuurlewe....Die son wat sak deur ‘n ligte mis, gebring met die komplimente van die myn.” Dit was die woorde van Radio Raps in sy ‘Dorp van die week’-video oor ons pragtige en terselfdertyd morsige dorp. Werkers is ernstig besig om die dorp op te ruim, of dit is omdat die Burgemeester bedank het en of dit is om Kwêla se ‘Dorp van die jaar’-kompetisie te wen en of hulle
uiteindelik die finansies en lus het om iets te doen is ‘n ope vraag. Secunda is een van die finaliste in die Dorp van die jaar-kompetisie van Kwêla, wat aangebied word in samewerking met Afrikaans.com, KIA en NAASA (National Accommodation Association of South Africa). As ons as wenners gekroon word, wen die dorp R1-miljoen se bemarkingswaarde van kykNET en Homebrew Films sal ‘n 45-sekonde advertensie oor die dorp
verfilm wat gedurende advertensietyd op TV uitgesaai sal word. Daar sal ook ’n groot KIA-dorp-van-die-jaarmakietie in die dorp gehou word met beloofde musiek, kos, pret en baie wendorp-gees! Kwêla sal dit ook verfilm en later vanjaar uitsaai. Dit sal alles afhang van die stemme. Ons kompetisie in die finaal is egter Barberton en Wakkerstroom met hul natuurskoon. Bladsy 2