The persistent water shortage

Kgang Maimane

Phokeng, as a mining host village, is experiencing a boom in the accommodation rental business, which puts pressure on service delivery, such as water supply. The Royal Bafokeng Administration, as the service provider, has provisioned water tanker trucks to mitigate the shortage. The administration installed community JoJo (Water) tanks in specific areas to provide access to water; the water runs out before the next fill-up, as it cannot meet demand. In other lower-lying areas, they experience water cuts during the day, and on some days the water is available throughout the day.

It is a struggle for survival as people have to ration water to their needs. Tshepiso* has been renting a room in the high-lying area for the past six months; she says there has not been running water for the past four months. “Yoh! Ke mathata, re sokola ka metsi, ke dirisa metsi ka kelotlhoko”. It is a problem; we are struggling to get water. I use water carefully. That is what she says. She depends on friends and her boyfriend’s car to fill her buckets from the lower areas. “You cannot do the whole laundry; I choose what I will need because the water is not enough,” she says. She says the solution may be to do a rotation of supplying running water and closing the supply in the lower areas, open for the higher areas so that water can have enough pressure to reach them.

Every section within the village has rooms for hire. Some of the yards have over twenty rooms, and they are dubbed Matorokis or Trains as they line up in the yards resembling train carriages. These new developments mean more tenants or families moving in, increasing the consumption of water, which is supplied free by the Royal Bafokeng Administration. The developments fall under a family residential setup, meaning they are registered as family units; thus, the water ration for that house will be for a single family, while the use is higher, creating a shortage in the water supply.