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Taps dry as Eastern Cape town waits for water works upgrade

Upgrades to the Fort Beaufort water treatment works are months behind schedule

Kat-Katvallei resident Lithemba Geduka is happy to have water after four months of dry taps. Photos: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

KwaMaqoma residents say taps can run dry for weeks, while the refurbishment of the Fort Beaufort water treatment works, due for completion in June 2026, remains unfinished.

In nearby Upsher and Rose Farm villages, residents say water tanks are rarely filled and tanker deliveries have stopped in some areas, forcing people to collect water from a river shared with livestock.

Water supply was restored in KwaMaqoma this week, but the municipality says rationing will continue because demand exceeds the treatment works’ capacity.

Prolonged water outages, blocked toilets and sewage flowing through the streets are daily life for residents of KwaMaqoma (formerly Fort…

Read More: Taps dry as Eastern Cape town waits for water works upgrade.

Environmental activists in South Africa are increasingly addressing issues like climate change and land
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  1. A baby was born in South Africa. The village was very poor, and the makeshift hospital didn\’t have some necessary equipment.. such as scales.

    The father however, was desperate to know the newborn baby\’s weight. After quite a bit of asking around, the hospital\’s chairman came up with an idea.

    \”Five miles west, there\’s a butcher shop. The owner deals with meat, he should have a rather precise scale. You could just put your baby on the meat scale, and the weight reading you\’ll get should be pretty accurate.\”

    And so the father departed westward. After much walking, with his newborn child cardled safely in his arms, he finally arrived at the butcher shop. He explained his dilemma to the shop owner, to witch the latter replied:

    \”Don\’t worry, friend. It\’s not even a problem, I\’ll check it for you, free of charge.\” And so he took the child to the back, where the scale was located.

    The father heard rumbling noises, and some scraping.. About a minute later the butcher came back.

    \”About three pounds boneless\” He said.

  2. An retired elderly couple visit London..

    They get picked up from the airport in a london black cab and head off into the city for some adventure.

    The cab driver say \”where you from guvnor?

    Husband. \”we\’re from South Africa\”..

    The wife is a little hard of hearing asks her husband.

    \”What did he say?\”

    The husband turns to his wife and says louder \”the cab driver asked us where we were from, I told him South Africa!\”

    The cabbie continues \”I was in the merchant navy years back… I got to drop anchor down your way, a few times in Johannesburg\”

    The husband replies \”oh wow that\’s where we\’re from originally, now we\’re in Cape Town.\”

    The wife asks the husband again \”what did he say?\”.

    The husband again relays the unheard conversation \”the cab driver says he spent some time in the navy and went down to joberg\”.

    The wife smiles and nods.