Pretoria - Staying true to the saying that a business thrives best when it is a part of the community it operates in, a Soshanguve business has taken it upon itself to be an extra helping hand for its community during desperate times.
Snake-like queues and residents driving around with dustbins searching for water has become a regular feature in many communities in the north of Pretoria.
This comes after Rand Water last Monday notified the City of Tshwane about infrastructure failure at its Palmiet Boosters Pumping Station, which meant the City would only be able to provide 55% of its normal daily water supply.
Areas like Laudium, Soshanguve, Mabopane and Pretoria North were the first to run dry and were hardest hit.
The owner of the Sosha Shisanyama in Block H, Gilbert Putuka, said he and his partners were saddened at having to watch thousands of residents being forced out into the streets in search of water despite the province having the highest number of Covid-19 infections.
Putuka said even though their business had also been hard-hit by the lockdown and intermittent restrictions on the sale of alcohol, he, alongside his partners Duncan Mnisi and Morena Brasco, decided they could not simply sit back and do nothing.
"My parents stay in Soshanguve, and driving around I saw people with buckets along the R80 at sewage pipes in search of water. I just couldn’t help my parents only and leave the rest of the community to fend for themselves."
Between them, Putuka said they decided to rent three trucks – each holding 10 000 litres of water – to go around the community four times a day. However, things had become so bad that some people even went to the extent of hijacking their water trucks as soon as they arrived in the community.
As a result, he said they had to enlist the help of security services to protect the trucks while making their trips around the Soshanguve and Mabopane areas.
“People are desperate … they don’t hurt any of the drivers but they demand that they stop.
“So we had to use Mnisi and Brasco’s security companies to escort the trucks around safely.
“Things were so bad that at one point we were out until midnight, handing out buckets of water to people who were begging us to come back. We know that we’re risking our lives because there is no adherence to safety regulations and the curfew, but people were pleading for just a little bit more.”
Putuka said helping the community was near to their hearts, and they had also handed out food parcels during the strict levels of the lockdown. “We don’t have much, but with the food parcels and this water, it is our way of saying we are a part of the community, and where we can help they can count on us. This is what God has called on us to do.”
Pretoria News