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 AfriForum approaches court on urgent basis over water and power crisis in Parys

The civil rights organisation AfriForum will be in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein on Wednesday 13 July over the ongoing water and power problems in Parys. On 6 July, AfriForum instructed its legal team to take the necessary steps to bring immediate relief to the community of Parys.

The Ngwathe Local Municipality and Eskom have both been added to the court case where AfriForum requests urgent relief to assist the community so that the situation in the town can return to normal. 

According to Alta Pretorius, AfriForum’s district coordinator for the Mooi River, the community is suffering from water and power problems that are not addressed by the municipality. “People in the community have been without power and water for some time. Nursing homes struggle to perform their daily functions and businesses suffer severe damage due to the constant power outages. Water infrastructure is also collapsing, and water cannot be pumped to the community due to the power outages associated with Eskom’s implementation of load shedding and maximum demand load shedding being implemented on the municipality. Sewage runs down the streets and large-scale pollution of the area takes place. The municipality is failing in its duties to provide the community with water and that is why we have decided to intervene,” says Pretorius.

The water and power problems started on Friday 1 July when Eskom shut down the Ngwathe Local Municipality’s power due to overload and damaged equipment. Since then, the community has been plagued by water and power problems that has even resulted in water and food being donated to assist the community.

“The problems we now see here are a result of years of mismanagement, neglect of infrastructure and non-payment on the part of the municipality. The municipality has totally failed in its task of providing even basic services to the town and although the community has been left to their own mercy, they still have to pay taxes. The municipal management is incompetent and does not have a plan of action or the necessary willpower to solve the problems,” says Jaco Grobbelaar, AfriForum’s Regional Head for the Central Region. “AfriForum has sat in numerous meetings with the municipality where we offered to assist the municipality with expert help and advice, but they refused. It leaves us with no choice but to obtain a court order to compel the municipality to provide services as required by law.”

The municipality had to pay approximately R1.1 million to restore power supply, this payment was only made on Monday 4 July. The power was restored again from 20:00 after Eskom had to do repairs. At this stage, Eskom provides only enough amperes so that the weak municipal network can handle it. As a result, the community has been without power for long periods of time and some residents have not had power yet.

“The local AfriForum branch is continuously distributing water in the community together with farmers. Urgent and drastic action is needed here to solve this problem,” concludes Pretorius.

The community is encouraged to get involved with this AfriForum branch in order to make a real difference: SMS “Parys” to 45344 (R1).

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