Despair, drought in dusty, distressed Karoo municipality
A Little Karoo mother’s feet are sore and swollen.
Sara Frans has no choice but to walk about 7km every morning to fetch water, carrying two heavy 5kg bottles home — only to do it all over again in the afternoon.
The long trek along the R61 in hot, dusty Calitzdorp has become all too familiar for the single parent of a 10-year-old daughter, done simply to get clean drinking water, as dry conditions have pushed the local dam level down to just 32.8%.
At the same time last year, it stood at 83.9%.
Stopped by the reporter and photographer on Tuesday, Frans stood catching her breath, holding a bottle in each hand.
“There is more vuilgoed [dirt] than actual water, so I have no choice but to walk elsewhere to get water,” said the woman, who did not want to say how old she was.
“This is making me older than I am … it even makes me look older than I am.
“I fetch water from there every day,” she said, pointing towards what looked like a small round structure far out in the field next to the road.
She said her worn plakkies were no match for the burning-hot road.
“My feet are sore, very sore.
“They swell up and they hurt all the time, but I still have to walk … there is no other way to get water, or rather, clean water.”
Calitzdorp, knee-deep in a water crisis, had been flagged by the Western Cape government in December as a top-risk town, with strict level four water restrictions in place.
Years of drought and low dam levels had drained the supply in the town, run by the beleaguered Kannaland municipality, affecting households and nearby towns it also runs, such as Zoar, Ladismith and Van Wyksdorp.
According to Envirocare Laboratory, all four towns frequently ranked among the worst for water quality.
The municipality, run by mayor Jeffrey Donson — who was convicted of rape — had previously been placed under a financial recovery plan.
It was also placed under administration by the Western Cape government after being plagued by alleged financial mismanagement.
Other Western Cape towns faced with the same water crisis included Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and Oudtshoorn.
So severe had the situation in Calitzdorp become that residents like Frans were forced to walk long distances for something as basic as clean water.
Farmers, on the other hand, were in the lurch, not knowing what lay ahead.
Local wine and olive farmer Kallie Calitz said harvesting on his farm only started this week.
“I began harvesting [on Tuesday] and also started crushing and pressing my first grapes.
“That puts extra pressure on water usage,” he said.
Calitz said he hoped to see the season through, but much depended on rainfall.
“We are really hoping for rain from February,” the 70-year-old said.
“This is normally a winter-rainfall area, but we hope the rain comes earlier,” he said.
He said the harvest season usually started in late January and ran through to March, sometimes into April, depending on the grape varieties.
Some grapes ripen later than others.
Calitz farms at Du’SwaRoo Wine and Olive Farm, which supplies mainly local wine shops, has a tasting room on the farm, and also sells to customers across SA.
He described himself as a small boutique producer.
“We are very worried,” Calitz said.
“The water supply has been very low.
“I did dig a borehole, but there was no water.”
At Klokkies farm, André Fourie said while this season’s grape harvest should be OK, next year’s crop could be a “complete disaster” if conditions did not improve.
He said the farm had been relying on the Calitzdorp and Gamkapoort dams, but the Gamkapoort Dam was empty.
According to their figures, the Calitzdorp Dam had been sitting at about 23%.
“It’s tough,” Fourie said.
“We farm stone fruit, vegetable seed, table grapes, wine grapes and fodder crops like lucerne.
“We are on our last reserves.”
He said harvesting had already started, which meant the current season was secure, but warned that next season’s outlook was far worse if the situation did not change.
About 40km further on, in Ladismith — also run by Kannaland — the situation was much the same, if not worse.
The town has 12 boreholes, all operational, but many residents say they do not trust the quality of the water.
Here, dairy factories have been under immense pressure, forced to truck in water or temporarily halt production.
Ladismith Cheese production manager Darryl Hess said the company had been losing “a substantial amount of money every day” because of the water crisis.
Hess said he could not disclose the actual figure.
He said the company had entered into agreements with nearby farmers who had boreholes and had been trucking in water to keep operations going.
Because of this, he said, the factory had managed to keep its head above water.
“We have had to cut down production,” Hess said.
“We also have another factory in Bonnievale, and that has at least helped us keep going.”
Ladismith Cheese produced cheese, butter and milk-powder products sold in supermarkets across SA.
The company, well known for its Gouda, cheddar and a range of other cheeses, had processed more than 200,000 litres of milk a day.
Because of the water crisis, however, the milk that had normally been processed at the main plant in Ladismith had to be diverted to the company’s Bonnievale plant.
De Villiers van Zyl said his butchery had been losing almost R30,000 a day whenever there was no water.
“Vazco Meat is the name of our business, and we distribute our products under the name Country Deli,” the man said.
“We make droëwors and biltong wheels that are packed into containers for display on shop counters, and we distribute from George all the way through to the Northern Cape.
“We currently process about two tons of meat per day.”
He said clean water was a necessity.
“We use at least 500 litres a day in our products,” Van Zyl said.
“There have already been four days in January when our water supply was interrupted or was too dirty and muddy to use.
“We are then forced to buy water from farmers to keep our factory running, which adds extra costs.
“The current economy is already so poor that we cannot afford such unnecessary expenses.”
He said he had been mulling over moving his business to another town.
“We cannot work like this,” Van Zyl said, adding he has about 14 employees.
At the Elandsberg Water Seepage Tunnel on Tuesday, there was no security and the old, rust-covered gate stood wide open.
The tunnel, which pushed water through the system, was situated off the extension of North Street in Ladismith and had been covered by corrugated zinc plates littered with big holes.
Black water pipes had run across the ground, lying in the dirt and grass, while the surrounding area had appeared overgrown and poorly maintained.
Residents said the lack of security and the hole-riddled roof sheets had raised serious concerns, warning that anyone could have poured poison into the system, which would then have flowed directly into household taps.
When the reporter went to the town hall to question Donson about the poor state of the water infrastructure and the apparent security lapse, the reporter’s phone was seized.
Donson, who previously served two separate terms as mayor, was only prepared to answer questions from behind a locked door.
Donson said the town’s infrastructure was “very old” and acknowledged the observation about the lack of security at the site was correct.
He said there was a poisonous plant in the area and warned if it had entered the water system, “the whole town would die”.
But when asked to name the plant, he refused, saying he did not want to give anyone ideas.
Donson said the water crisis was not new and blamed it on former president Jacob Zuma.
He said he had written to Zuma in 2016 asking for assistance to build a dam.
According to Donson, national government had responded and said it would assist.
“If it had been built in Ladismith, we would never have had water problems,” Donson said.
He said nothing came of the project and the crisis had only worsened over time.
Donson said during apartheid, water infrastructure was laid for a much smaller population and had never been upgraded.
He also said he was not scared of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“I am not scared of the president, I am standing with God,” he said.
“I was born to serve people … I know I have a lot of power, but I don’t always use it.”
The DA’s Kannaland constituency head Gillion Bosman said the crisis rest squarely with the mayor.
“When it comes to water infrastructure, the mayor and the municipality are not on top of the situation,” Bosman said.
“There is no plan in place, and much of the support received from the district municipality and the provincial government has been squandered.
“The water crisis is no longer a short-term emergency.
“It is a predictable outcome of years of poor planning, marked by significant neglect of infrastructure and weak political leadership.
“In council meetings over the past few years, the current coalition government has largely acknowledged items without engaging in detail, and there has been no consequence management.”
Gift of the Givers deployed emergency water tankers to Zoar and Ladismith in December.
The organisation said it bought three water tankers and assessed longer-term solutions to secure supplies for residents.
“Gift of the Givers teams have managed to get three boreholes fully functional in the Ladismith area,” founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said.
“We had committed to the Kannaland municipality that we would get three boreholes functioning as well as fix the pumps and pipes”
Emeritus Prof Kevin Winter, a water expert, said towns and cities needed long-term water plans that looked at least 25 years ahead.
He said this had required clear priorities and sustained investment.
“A city or town without water is a catastrophe,” Winter said.
Water should be the top priority in any town, he said.
Winter said some municipalities had not provided clear, data-driven information to the public about water levels.
He also said droughts could not be accurately predicted.
“In short, there is no way you can predict a drought other than to follow trends and climate models in the long term,” he said.
“Equally, it is not possible to predict the interval of drought. In addition, climate change is making short-term prediction more difficult.”
Local government MEC Anton Bredell said: “The following towns currently pose the highest risk in terms of water security: Knysna, Calitzdorp, Van Wyksdorp, Ladismith, Zoar, Witsand, Dysselsdorp and De Rust.
“The various levels of water restrictions are not uniform as each municipality follows its own guidelines in this regard.
“We therefore urge residents and visitors to familiarise themselves with restrictions that apply locally and to please adhere to them.
“If we all save water there will be enough for everyone.”
IOL