Rustenburg - Residents in Rustenburg and surrounds are buckling under sweltering heat which has much of the North West province in a suffocating grip.
“It is too hot, I have never experienced or heard of this extreme heat. We are going to die if there is no rain in the coming days,” said Angela Moeketsi, 45, from Kanana outside Rustenburg.
The South African Weather Service said extreme heat was expected over the northern and north eastern parts of the province until Wednesday – with no rain in sight.
Rustenburg saw a maximum temperature of 38 degree Celsius on Tuesday and Wednesday, while in the Pilansberg area in the Moses Kotane municipality the mercury was set to rise to 41 degrees.
“Water levels in the dam (Bospoort Dam) are gradually going down. Plants are dying. This is not good for the human race,” Moeketsi said, sitting under the shade of a tree at her home.
Bospoort Dam is situated in Kanana, north east of Rustenburg. Last month the Rustenburg local municipality announced that water restrictions had been enforced at Bospoort until the level reached 50 percent.
Moeketsi said the heat was unbearable.
“You cannot go inside the house during the day, it is like a bakery.”
Meanwhile, for Kutlwano Moelema, going home this week has turned into a nightmare.
“At work I switch on an air conditioner. It keeps the place cold but, when I leave work it become impossible for me to breath smoothly. I gasp for air as If I was running,” she said.
Moelema said she had taken to moving from one shop to another after work, just to cool down.
“I am not looking at anything to buy, I just want to cool off. If I think I have been too long in one shop, I move to another shop until the shops close for business around 6pm. By then it is no longer that hot.”
Freelance journalist Nyakallo Mosala, from Sunrise Park, east of Rustenburg, said it was difficult to sleep at night.
“I sleep in my birthday suit but that does not even help. Last night was the worst. I found my self literally waking up in the middle of the night to have a quick cold shower because I could not handle the heat.”
She added that her son woke up frequently during the night to drink cold water.
African News Agency
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