Senekal - Metsi, metsi (water, water)! shouted people in the blistering hot streets of Senekal, waving desperately as the #OperationHydrate trucks drove past them.
Five big trucks and countless other vehicles rolled into the drought-stricken Eastern Free State town to drop off 130 000 litres of bottled water on Thursday.
Locals said they had been without running water since last month, and many were struggling to make do with the 40 litres per household they were given by municipal tankers every second day.
Long queues snaked down the dusty roads as people waited in the scorching sun for their share of the #OperationHydrate water, delivered straight off the trucks by volunteers.
The operation’s co-ordinator, Yaseen Theba, said the initiative started only last Monday and aims to deliver 5-litre bottles of water to the areas worst hit by the drought.
QwaQwa in the Free State, Aliwal North in the Eastern Cape and its surrounding villages have already benefited from the operation. Swartruggens in North West will be the next beneficiary.
The water delivered in Senekal was bought with a R500 000 donation by Mango Airlines.
Thirsti water, a four-month-old company, came on board and gave the initiative the best price deal for bottled water, promised to provide a continuous supply of it, and endeavoured to deliver all the water free of charge, Theba explained.
The initiative originally started as a call to the public to drop containers of water off at various points around Joburg.
#OperationHydrate distributes water ... and joy
But Theba pointed out that this method was too resource-heavy and that they were now encouraging people to make donations instead.
He explained that #OperationHydrate used the help of police, councillors and other community leaders in towns to guide them to where the water was most critically needed.
“That’s how we’re trying to ensure that water gets into the hands of people who need it the most,” he said.
Across the road from #OperationHydrate’s first drop-off point in Senekal stood Thapelo Mokoena, his trailer with its 1 000-litre water tank completely dwarfed by a giant Thirsti truck.
Mokoena, 25, started selling water, which he gets from a local borehole, in December. He makes about R500 from a single tank where locals desperate flock to fill containers that were anywhere between 2 and 20 litres.
To fill 20 litres, he charges only R8, and R2 for 5 litres, he said. He said he wasn’t worried about the effect #OperationHydrate would have on his business as he was painfully aware of how his community was suffering without the precious resource.
In another area, stones and all kinds of containers formed a long line along the edge of a dusty soccer field.
Mamsi Litsoane explained they did this to keep their place in the queue for the municipal water tankers, because they were never sure when it would arrive and often left empty-handed if they were at the back of the queue.
“Sometimes we stand here from 4am until 6pm. They don’t tell us what time they’re going to which sector. We’re going to die of skin cancer in this sun.”
She said she was also worried about the diseases they could get from their unflushed toilets, which stood stinking in the baking heat.
Nosi Mtolo, with her 7-month-old baby strapped to her back, agreed, saying that instead of using the toilets, they “kept it in”.
“We are struggling. Per house we get 40 litres and we have to drink, cook and wash,” she added. She said this didn’t go far in her mother’s house, which she shared with seven other people.
Mtolo added that although the 5 litres of water given to her by #OperationHydrate wasn’t much, it would still make a difference, especially in keeping her baby hydrated.
At the other side of the soccer field, Grade 2 pupils at Rorisang Public School excitedly queued to receive water and then staggered away as their small bodies buckled under the weight of the bottles.
Free State director of social development Victor Motaung told The Star he had arranged for farmers and surrounding municipalities to bring water to Senekal almost every day. He was encouraging companies to help drill boreholes or to provide JoJo water tanks.
“We’ve advised people to take water seriously,” he said, adding that he’d even managed to close down most of the carwashes in the area.
Meanwhile, along the road leading out of town, painfully thin cattle, allegedly let loose by bankrupt farmers, attempted to graze on dry tufts of grass, another testament to the suffering brought by the drought.
AgriSA president Johannes Möller said while some rain had fallen over the past few days, especially in the Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West, there was very little improvement in the moisture content of the soil.
“However this is only, hopefully, the start of the rains, so we’re looking forward to getting more rain. The eastern parts of the country have received more rain than the western parts, so we’re hoping to get rains from now till the end of April or May, so that the maize that has been planted now can grow,” Möller said.
He added that the northern parts of the Western Cape, all of the Northern Cape and some of the Free State had received no rain as yet, so the end of the drought isn’t really in sight”.
“Even if we get normal rains from now to April, we’ll still have a small maize crop,” he said.
Johannesburg Water spokesman Hilgard Matthews said reservoir levels across Joburg were at a good level. But he cautioned residents to continue to save water.