I live in eMalahleni... previously known as witbank.
Last week I listened as Rian from Jacaranda Complimentary Breakfast had an interview with our mayor. and ever I was left speachless...
Weird enough when the name was still witbank it seemed that more was done in this "City" than what is being done for the people of the City currently.
Maybe just maybe they are preparing us for living in the wild...
Surviving Alaska is Nothing compared to Surviving witbank!
Primitive to the point where we Generate our own power and if you don't have a gas stove then you braai quite alot! before we know it we will be sitting around campfires in our backyard singing songs with guitars just for entertainment, heat and being able to cook! We have to buy and still carry all our water to our houses to be able to have drinkable water and if you wash your whites you can be sure they will come our Brown. I think there is more Jik sold in witbank than anywhere else!
We don't need to go the the Bushveld to experience "luxury free" living... we can experience it every time we have to boil bottled water in the kettle or on the gas stove to just be able to wash yourself before going to work
We've had countless water and electrical problems on a daily basis, sometimes going days on end without any water to flush the toilets or take a shower,it has come to the point where every business, Shopping center and house has a Jo-Jo tank in the back yard (in case the water is off) and a generator in the garage (in case the power is off).
We as residents of eMalahleni has become so accustomed to living this way that we have started rigging our houses with accessories like Water tanks, water pumps and generators just to be able to make a normal day to day living.
In eMalahleni you either have Electricity or water... If you have both then something is wrong and somebody is actually working!
Today I sit here for probably the 100th time and I wonder to myself... what do they do with all the Taxes we pay?
They don't fix the roads...
They don't keep the sewage system in working order...
They don't clean the streets...
They do.... Nothing....
Every day I drive past a leaking Water Reservoir tower and every time I am amazed by their solution to the problem... a overflow hosepipe with water streaming out of it... through the window... and I think to myself "what a wonderful place this is" why not just fix it? But they won't cause that solution has been working for 3 year so why fix it now hey?
Last week it was announced that Naauwpoort Sewage plant just outside eMalahleni is pumping thousands of liters Raw sewage straight into witbank dam... (apparently a new Feeding program for the fish it seems)... due to Electrical Cables that was stolen...
LAST YEAR... SEPTEMBER 2011 already!
Don't be mislead... our mayor knew about the problem and instructed people to fix it and just ASSUMED that it has been fixed. It is 1 year later and the problem is still there and worse than ever.
So then Rian from Jacaranda decided it's time to give our mayor a call... and now we all know that apparently our mayor is a Standup comic to!
She admitted knowing of the problem and that she didn't know it hasn't been fixed. She also told Rian that the Resident's of witbank is Lying and that witbank's Tap water was clean and Drinkable.... uhm.... if your like water that looks like "coke on tap" then yes maybe. The water smells just Weird and Fowl and looks even worse!
It came to the point where I don't know if I want to bath my kids anymore... 'cause I think they will come out dirtier than they went in.
Well now we have sewage and (ALOT) of e-Coli in our dam... and at some point it is going to start affecting the other dams and places to which our water flows.... Middelburg dam as well as Loskop Dam etc. We have to wonder about the effect this is having on the eco-system. Animals and plants are also going to start suffering at some point.
And when the mayor was asked when it will be fixed .... she could have just as well said... "eishI don't know" .... but she replied... "we've already started attending to the problem, I cannot give you a date on which it will be fixed but we are going to get the extra money somewhere to fix the problem"
Soooo dear people of South-Africa. If you are getting tired of the Rush and hustle bustle of City life and want to have the experience of living the Primitive life like our forefathers did. Carrying your own water, making fire to cook your food and playing board games to entertain the kids then come to witbank for the weekend. Its only +-100km from PTA and JHB.
eMalahleni... your primitive destination of choice...
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