31 Mar 2020

Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) is reconnecting all the standpipes they had disconnected around Kanye as a result of non-payment by customers.

This was confirmed by water engineer, Mr Gobotsamang Jamison in an interview on Monday. He explained that reconnections were being instituted whether or not customers had paid their outstanding water bills.

The initiative, he said, was in response to the coronavirus messages of personal hygiene as the firstline measure of prevention, adding that the looming health crisis affected them directly.

He said the plan was to give Batswana water to protect themselves.

Apart from disconnections, he conceded that water had been scarce in some areas around Kanye, especially at Gamahikana and Ditootso wards. He added that they had been bowsing to the wards as a stop-gap measure, but that he said was not enough to go round.

Mr Jamison also revealed that a team was on site to figure out why the areas had not been getting water as expected.

Residents of the two wards were worried that water shortage could undermine efforts to keep the deadly virus at bay.

Ms Bonolo Ntokonyana also said in an interview that they had been without water for a long time. She said she was afraid that the critical measure of washing hands with clean water and soap for at least 20 seconds as prescribed by scientists was not possible in her ward because there was no water in her area.

She said water shortage left many ordinary Batswana who could not afford the luxury of a sanitiser exposed to the risk of contracting the killer virus.

Another resident, Ms Adelaide Kooepile also corroborated the story. She said potable water had been a scarce commodity for months at Ditootso ward.

Likewise, she said water shortage put them in a precarious position since washing hands with clean water and soap was the only defence they had against the invisible enemy.

She was, however, hopeful that WUC would take cue from President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s recent public announcement that water disconnections be halted.

Ms Tshepiso Gaabakwe was seen washing clothes with rain water she had harvested the previous night.

Ms Gaabakwe said they had been going for months without water in the area, and that respite came in the form of rain.

She had lined up open water tanks around the house to trap every drop that trickled down the rooftops.

An elderly resident, Ms Moitshephi Mmeke of Gamahikana ward was making the most of the rain water stored in containers around her veranda.

She said she usually used a wheelbarrow to ferry water from some places on a lower plain which was physically taxing for someone her age.

She was also anxious that there was little they could do to be hygienic without running water in their homes.

My Life Pharmacy director, Mr Mohammed Shakir said demand for sanitisers outstripped supply.

He said the challenge was that the market was not ready for the surge since people ordinarily did not use sanitisers. ENDS