DROUGHT IN EASTERN CAPE!!!!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!!

My title may seem a tad dramatic, but given that the local municipalities are doing little or squat about it, maybe, just maybe, we can draw some attention to the serious water shortage in the Amathole region.

First, some quick history and background. In 1988 water restrictions were introduced in Port Elizabeth. In 1989 an extension of the Orange River/Sundays River scheme was launched to provide water to Port Elizabeth where supplies were limited due to the severe drought. In East London, water restrictions were last experienced in 2002. Nothing was done to alleviate a similar problem in the future.

Yesterday afternoon while browsing through a free local newspaper of limited distribution, we came across an article that just happened to mention that Water restrictions had been in place in the Amathole District since 1 MAY 2010!

This morning, a bit of research took place.

We found that the Buffalo City Municipality is a part of the Amathole District, and is therefore also affected by the water restrictions.

So, we looked further. First stop was the Dispatch, where we typed in "water restrictions in East London". This took us to the archives, which go through until 2007. And no mention of water restrictions.

Next stop was ectourism.co.za, but as expected, there was nothing there. The authorities would not want potential tourists to know of any prolems until they got here.

So, it was off to Amathole's website, where we used our same search phrase and found...

NOTHING!

There had to be something there, so we scratched around a bit, and eventually found an article, possibly about 250 words, that referred to the water shortage, and sugested that we all try to conserve water, use it sparingly etc, and a link that said 'read more'. We wanted to read more, so clicked the link, and were blessed with a pdf, in English and Xhosa.

Great Stuff!

So now, everyone in the Easter Cape, Amathole District can link to the website and download the pdf.

DUH! 

Only 10% of the region's poulation have access to the internet. Think again Amathole District.

Just to prove a point, we headed over to the East London Municipality website where we found more of the same official non-recognition of the problem. However, on the BCM website we found a link to Amatolawater.

PAYDIRT! Or so we thought...

We found the "Latest News", and went there. Nada, zip, nothing, bugger-all, squat, niks. 

So, at the end of it all there is a question that needs answering. Are there, or are there not, water restrictions?

Taking it a bit further, if there are not water restrictions, how on earth can Amathole Disricts' Gail Pullen and Sakhumzi Somyo be allowed to spread rumours?

If there are water restrictions, should the POPULATION, those people that use the water, and those people who will ultimately pay fines and levies for excessive useage; should they not have been informed?

Sakhumzi Somyo, Gail Pullen, Hellen Neal-May, of Amathole District,
our Mayor, Zukisa Faku,
and
Nothemba Mlonzi and Nomonde Mnukwa of Amathole Water
must be held accountable.

These people are to be forced to pay the fines and levies they will try to extract from the residents who were kept uninformed.

Of course, taking the stance that a South African politician be held accountable is ludicrous.

For more, read about the 2010 Water restrictions in East London South Africa