Four days without water in Johannesburg as residents beg for tankers and a contamination warning lands
Badenhood Valley households have been dry since a tree smashed a water pipe during sewer excavation work, and Johannesburg Water has warned the supply may be unsafe once it returns.
Residents of Badenhood Valley in Johannesburg have been without water for four days and are asking Johannesburg Water to send tankers to the area, eNCA (YouTube) reported on 23 October.
The outage follows damage to a water pipe that was badly broken when a tree fell on it during sewer excavation work. Johannesburg Water issued an advisory the day before the broadcast warning of possible contamination of the supply once it returns.
One resident said the household had gone four days without water and was still looking for water that morning. The resident said they were aware of the warning not to drink or cook with the water when it comes back, but that water was still needed for the toilet, and asked the utility to send tankers.
A ward councillor accused Johannesburg Water of leaving residents without support. The councillor said she had been asking the utility for water tanks for three days and that it had not known a contamination was possible in the area until she told it. She said she raised the alert on Monday and Tuesday, and again on Wednesday morning after seeing the condition on the ground. She said she warned residents not to touch the water if they had any, told them the supply would go off, and warned that it could come back contaminated after the repair.
The councillor said at least three avenues in the area, from 4th Street to 10th Street, were without water.
Johannesburg Water is continuing to investigate the possible contamination of the supply in Bez Valley, according to the broadcast.
In the same bulletin, eNCA reported that the case against a self-proclaimed pastor and two co-accused was postponed at the Atteridgeville Magistrate’s Court. The three face charges related to the rape of a 43-year-old mother and the murder of her four-month-old baby, whose body was found in a shallow grave near the Hennops River earlier in October. The case returns to court on 29 October to allow the first accused to undergo a mental evaluation.
The CRL Rights Commission repeated its call for pastors to be vetted before they lead congregations. Its chairperson said children’s safety is at stake and that the country needs a regulatory council where concerns about suspicious behaviour by religious leaders can be raised. She said anyone wanting to be a religious leader should go through a process and be vetted because children will be present, and that there is no way to know how many churches or religious leaders there are in the country. She said religious leadership is the only profession in South Africa that is not regulated, unlike doctors, lawyers and plumbers.
The MK party removed another secretary general, Sibonelo Nalo, following a list of complaints about the selection of councillors, factionalism in the party and parliamentary administration, the broadcast reported. Lindweim Shali has been appointed acting secretary general. Nalo remains one of the party’s MPs in the National Assembly for now.
The ANC’s National Working Committee instructed national chairperson Gwede Mantashe to apologise for remarks he made in the North West. Asked about allegations that councillors in a mining town demand sex from women in exchange for jobs, he used explicit language referring to female genitalia and argued it was an individual matter rather than an ANC issue. The committee said the matter is now closed.
Weather expert Professor Willem Landman said a strong El Nino is expected to persist through the summer. The World Meteorological Organization has warned that El Nino could put vulnerable communities at greater risk, with impacts including drought and extreme heat. Landman said forecast models are good at predicting the event once it is under way, that it should weaken towards the end of summer and may die off in winter, but that nothing beyond that is known. He said research has shown strong El Nino events are often followed by La Nina, which normally brings good rainfall to summer rainfall regions.
In sport, Orlando Pirates return home with a 1-0 lead over African Stars from the first leg and are 90 minutes from the group stage of the CAF Champions League. The club missed the group stage last season.
Source: eNCA (YouTube), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBwChChdFSI
