The taps ran dry in Bethal, Mpumalanga, in December when Rand Water Board reduced water pressure by 40% for non-payment of an R87.7-million back-bill owed by the Govan Mbeki Municipality.
More than half the town is reckoned to be without water.
Residents are furious because they have paid their water bills, and want to know what the municipality has done with the money. Many suspect corruption is at the root of the problem.
Last Wednesday students at the Jim van Tonder School in Bethal were sent home because there was no water for showering, toilets and drinking. The town’s abattoir has also shut down. Hennie Rademeyer runs an ice factory in the town and he has had to shut his business down because he cannot get water.
Residents are planning a march on the municipal headquarters next week to protest against maladministration and the apparently cavalier attitude displayed by the mayor and senior city councillors to the water crisis in th
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