Pogiso Mfathi almost seems to wince as he watches a group of painfully thin cattle step on to the scale. He’s come here to find out what he can get for his own near-skeletal herd clinging to life on his barren farm.
But it doesn’t look like he’ll get much. The cattle, their bones jutting from their skin, will barely fetch R3 000 an animal.
“It’s useless,” Mfathi, 64, sighed as he sips his cold coffee at this cattle auction in the drought-stricken town of Swartruggens, near Rustenburg. Now starving, his once-prized herd is worth nothing.
A signboard outside the auction room declares “red meat is die kos” – red meat is the food.
“Before this drought, I could sell my cattle for R8 000 or more. But I know there are farmers worse off than me.”
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Here in the small North West farming town the worst drought in 23 years has left farms like Mfathi’s in ruins. He said he gave six of his cows to a farmer in nearby Groot Marico this week.
“What can I do with them?” he shrugged, defeated. “I have nothing to feed them. They are dying… I pray for the rain, but there’s no rain in Swartruggens.”
For the past five months, taps have been dry in Swartruggens, which the Kgetlengrivier Local Municipality declared a disaster area with the neighbouring town of Koster last year. A staggering 20 000 of its inhabitants are in need of drinkable water and thousands of animals have perished.
Settling his gaze on the auction’s grim proceedings, farmer Louis Visser said: “These cattle are skraal (skinny). They’re not supposed to look like that. Fat cattle with calves get a good price – that’s what the slaughterhouses want. But they’re rare now.
“These thin cows, their prices are very much down now because who wants a thin cow with a thin calf because you don’t know whether the next rain is coming and when it will come? How can you feed it?
“Our farmers are in a crisis. They’re selling their cows and calves, otherwise they’ll die on the farms.”
Read: Drought intensifies food struggle
The straight-backed 76-year-old, who has been farming for 42 years, is fortunate – he could prepare for the lean times. He has brought only two fat heifers to this auction.
Still, he is worried. “But we have belief in a God that will give rain at the right time for us. But a lot of the farmers are dejected.”
Behind him, the Swartruggens Dam, the town’s water source, was virtually dry and at 3 percent, the area’s irrigation dam has been closed.
“Our irrigation farmers must depend on boreholes. Some make new ones, but there’s no water in them; for others the water table is down,” Visser said.
“If it goes on being dry like this, the boreholes won’t last for ever.”
Today, a team from Operation Hydrate – a national community-driven response to the crippling drought that has caused severe water shortages in five provinces – are delivering 60 000 litres of water to the thirsty town. Last week, their volunteers and teams from the town distributed 300 000 litres, largely to the water-starved township of Borolelo.
“We’ve decided to return to Swartruggens following calls from the community and the mayor (Kim Medupe),” said Yusuf Abramjee of Operation Hydrate. “The need is massive. People are desperate for drinking water. The government has asked us to continue the humanitarian efforts.”
People like Julie Isaacs, who is standing in front of her neat shack clutching her baby and wiping the sweat from her brow – it’s nearly 40ºC. Her five litres of water from Operation Hydrate have long run out and she complained that that day was the first she’d seen of the municipal water tanker in five days.
The township’s councillor, Patricia Papa, insisted the water tankers traverse the township daily.
“Look how dirty I am,” said the unemployed woman, embarrassed by her tousled hair and dirty feet. “When we wash we have to use this little water. The little we have we need to use to drink, to cook and to clean with. You are too embarrassed to go out. To go to church. And you have to stay home in case you miss the water truck.”
But amid the devastation, “water angels” like Ismael Suliman* and a group of Swartruggens businessman have emerged to provide water to residents. They have repaired a borehole – supplying 30 000 litres free a day for Borolelo – and have organised the daily delivery of water in a military truck to the hospital.
“Sometimes people come with 500-litre tanks, sometimes 1 000 litres to the borehole. It’s the least we can do for our community. We’re a united community. Without water, there is no life,” Suliman said.
In the backyard of his car shop, a borehole runs from 4am until late. “Whoever comes into our shop, we tell them about the borehole if they need it,” Suliman’s wife Faeeza said. “You must see the queues. Someone told me to sell it. I told them it’s not my water, it’s God’s water.
“Sometimes, people come to the tank here at 5am to fill up with water because they want to get their kids ready for school and for work.”
Hannes Germishuizen, a retired security guard, pushed his trolley, stacked with water containers, to the Sulimans’ borehole.
He likes how the water tastes, it is sweet and clear. Even when there was municipal water in the taps, it often smelled of sewage, he complained. “If this borehole wasn’t here, I don’t know how I would get water.”
Outside the home of Hafeeza Mohamed*, a group of schoolchildren gather at her borehole, feeding a hosepipe into their bottles.
Mohamed has been providing water free to the community for years this way – her electricity bill is in the thousands. “We’ve always had problems with water,” she said.
“This is not new for us. It breaks my heart to see people go without water. That’s why I help.”
Some people criticise the municipality, saying it failed to maintain infrastructure and should have acted sooner. Medupe, the mayor, acknowledges the authorities knew the drought was coming.
“We’re depending on government grants – most are conditional. Our community has 80 percent indigency.”
The municipality is using boreholes as there are no funds to construct a 15km pipeline to fountains. While work has started – but been stopped – to remove silt from the Swartruggens dam, the town does not have the R8 million needed.
Water tankers drive 30km to boreholes in Koster.
At the Swartruggens’ caravan park, silence enveloped the empty stands. Owner Dawie Vorster said: “Business is bad. There’s no water. Why would anyone want to come here?
“But I don’t let it get me down. Worrying just makes you sick.”
The Star
* Residents do not want to be identified.