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DAILY GRIND: People wait to get water from a Jojo container brought to Silobela township in Carolina, Mpumalanga, since water in the Gert Sibande municipality was found to be unsuitable to drink. PHOTO: MABUTI KALI

 Council appeals high court ruling 

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He said samples taken on Friday from five points in the water supply system were found to be clean.

The only interruption of the water supply happened on Saturday when a pipe burst, and it was fixed the same day, Ngcobo said.

Mpumalanga DA MP Marti Wenger accused the municipality of failing to comply with a ruling by the Pretoria High Court that it supply Carolina residents with potable water by last Friday.

The municipality is appealing the ruling. It contends that it is not responsible for supplying potable water.

"We do not have the necessary by-laws to recover the cost of supplying potable water. That is the function of the Chief Albert Luthuli municipality, which is a local municipality," Ngcobo said.

His municipality was required only to provide bulk infrastructure for the supply of water in the area.

"If they do require assistance we provide it," he said.

In January, Boesmanspruit Dam was contaminated by acid mine water seepage, which affected the tap water in Carolina, north of Ermelo, and the surrounding areas.

The municipality set up a task team, which included officials from the department of water affairs and community development workers.

The team recommended the upgrading of the water treatment works and the urgent construction of a mini-lab to test water quality.

"Even when the water supply becomes safe to drink at its source, this doesn't address the problem that sedimentation in the pipes continues to contaminate the water," Wenger said.

Ngcobo said engineers were working around the clock, monitoring the system and performing various tests.

Comments

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Mon May 20 04:41:14 SAST 2013 ::

Jul 17, 2012

BaleliM

And the circus continues
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Jul 17, 2012

januswanus

Intact the mine or mines contaminating the water was suppose to pay billions of Rands for the damage. But you may find is owned by some benefactors hence the situation.
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Jul 17, 2012

LBS

What a pathetic bunch, passing the buck continuously, accepting fat salaries and drinking bottled water at meetings while people suffer!

Wonder who will get voted back in during the next elections?
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Jul 17, 2012

AMO

the mayors and managers drink bottled water and the rest of the community suffers...service delivery is poor,, heads mst roll now
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Jul 17, 2012

RobinH

Not responsible?!!! WTF. One's rates bill clearly indicates supply of water as a separate item. Of course the municipality is responsible for supplying water, you numbskull. That is what they are there for. This is about as pathetic as Aangie insisting that the textbook mess doesn't reflect badly on her performanca as a minister. How can these arrogant jerks even think we will buy that sh!t?
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Jul 17, 2012

Home1234

Its all very well expressing our indignation at an entire ruling party who take mind-boggling sums of money as salaries and perks, employ their family and friends all over the place and simply - without a qualm - step aside from all responsiblity for doing what they are very highly paid to do. Let our votes count. Don't allow them to keep making fools of us. They are, after all, public servants. The money they take is ours. Its completely unacceptable that they just say "its not our job". Ol Angie gets paid a fortune, but here complete lack of concern for the current chaos in the education system leaves one speechless. Now we have a municipality that refuses to take responsibility for providing potable water. They get away with it because we let them. Enough. From the top down, we have to get rid of them.
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Jul 17, 2012

MaE10

All i cn say we as people from these small towns will fover take everything shown on TV and reported in media as lies.i live there bt of all that is reported even on TV is lies! I thought journalists are investigtive bt no, u jst call them and they easily and gladly go to restuarants wth those who call them. Brown envelope journalism maybe bt u cn call them en tell them wht to report what to shoot! Theres Chief Albert Luthuli and GSDM i challenge u 2 come and do a proper coverage of it!
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