It all started with the garden tap. Pure drinking water has lways been, wiil probably always be, a big problem in the Free State, a province in Central SA, and other dry areas in the country.It is very simple: the rainfall is low and the existing dams cannot provide enough water. I think we need more dams to tserve the growing communities. and since ’94 it became clear that many blacks think we get water for “mahala” that is free.
The garden tap became a toy to the kids in the complex’ a source of fun and gamea…It was actually painful to see how they wasted water, messed up the entrance lobby with muddy hands and feet!
The parents did not seem to realize how vital it is to conserve water. There was no superrvision and most of them even left the dhildren to play here while they went out to run errands or visit friends and family.
We, the corporate body, had to find a selution to this setious problem.
Ametal contraptionwas dis covered on the market that could be used to cover the tap and could also be locked! So this tap was only unlockd when the garden had to be watered..
But then another problem emerged’ Most people know or we assumed they know, that in a comles , wether it is an apartment building, townhouses or cluster housesing, the owner of each unit has to pay a levy every monthh. This is to cover the cost of cleaning the hallways, the electriciy and wateraswell as the upkeep of the garden
The owners of the apartments in this building then noticed that since ’98 the water, usage became went nusually high. So the corperate body and the estate agency who handles our affairs decided that meters should be installed in every unit and at the end of the month every flat wiil receive a water account to be paid with hislevy.
Now almost a year later , another demom surfaced. People were not paying their levies, tennants were in arrears with their rent and the water in two flats were cut off.
The inmates of those two units calmly broke the fixture onthe garden tap and stle water! It happened three times in one week and the chairman of our corporate body confronted the three black men, explaining to them that they are not allowed to use the garden tap.
They should take the matter to the owner who lives in Lesotho. I could hear the heatedb arguement!
The young black men were inebriated ( it was a Sturday afternoon and men love their beer! The chairman was assaulted, was sporting a black eye!
He is white, we are only four white people in the complex. A charge was laid agaist the thieves .
The question is now, is this a race issue or did the culprits not know about the whole water system?
It is extrmely unsettling and we all feel ubhappy. There is also the language barrier.The caretaker is Afrikaans, the tennant Sotho and they communicate in bad English!