Gift of the Givers extends water interventions to Graaff-Reinet

The Gift of the Givers is set to intervene at the Nqweba Dam in Graaff-Reinet on Tuesday as a disastrous drought continues to plague the Karoo town.

According to a statement by the organisation's founder Imtiaz Sooliman, residents are fighting each other at water tankers because of the situation.

The Nqweba dam is empty, dead fish are visible, and boreholes have run dry. 

Two weeks ago The Herald reported that the Gift of the Givers would deliver fodder to and source water for farmers in the drought-stricken town of Adelaide, in the Eastern Cape.

Adelaide has not had water in the past six months.

“Intervening in Graaff-Reinet is an extension of our major intervention in Eastern Cape. We are currently involved in Adelaide, Bedford, Queenstown, King Williams Town, Nanaga and Makhanda. Butterworth is next.

“Gift of the Givers will be sending three superlinks laden with water, three water tankers, a drilling machine and its hydrologist, Dr Gideon Groenewald, to Graaff-Reinet on Tuesday.

“Dr Groenewald has a thorough knowledge of the area having mapped a comprehensive report of groundwater sources in 1999, then commissioned and paid for by Dr Anton Rupert.”

Imtiaz said the main issue of supplying water to all communities is that too little water reaches the main storage tanks in the lower lying areas. 

“The solution lies in developing existing or new boreholes, manage known aquifers, supply water at a rate that exceeds water use in low lying areas, allow pumping systems to run effectively and fill high lying reservoirs as a matter of urgency, as well as drill boreholes directly in high lying areas if the geography allows that,” he said.

Last week [September 28], Eastern Cape MPL Retief Odendaal penned a letter to Premier Oscar Mabuyane to urge to declare the province a drought disaster area.

Odendaal said he would take the matter to the legislature if Mabuyane had not responded by Monday.