A Crisis of Dignity: Fochville and Kokosi Residents Forced to Drink from Polluted River

In a scene that paints a stark picture of municipal failure, residents of Fochville and Kokosi are being forced to gamble with their health, collecting water for daily use from a river that flows with raw sewage. This desperate measure is the direct result of a prolonged water crisis, caused by the Merafong City Municipality’s failure to pay its bulk water account to Rand Water.

The towns have become the epicenter of a human rights emergency, with taps having run dry for weeks. The situation has become so dire that groups of residents now regularly gather at the Loopspruit river, filling containers from a small well next to the water, at a bend near an old sewerage works.

“This is the Only Water We Have”

“We take water from here because it is cleaner than the water upstream. This is the only water we have as our taps are dry,” one resident explained, highlighting the grim reality of their choices. The residents are acutely aware of the danger; they meticulously boil the river water before any consumption, a necessary precaution as others are seen washing clothes just upstream, and a visible stream of sewage flows into the same river from a broken pipeline nearby.

“A Direct Threat to Our Health and Dignity”

For residents like Elmari Barnard from Fochville’s 3rd Street, the crisis is an assault on their basic humanity. “We are living under conditions that no human being should ever be subjected to,” she stated. “Households go days without a single drop of water. Parents cannot bathe their children. Elderly residents are forced to endure unhygienic conditions that put their health at serious risk.”

Barnard’s frustration is directed at the authorities. “It is unacceptable that in 2025, we must beg for something as fundamental as water. There has been little to no transparency, no clear answers, and no reliable solutions. We are tired of empty promises while our community continues to deteriorate.”

Mounting Pressure and Official Silence

Community groups like the Greater Fochville Water Crisis Committee have been campaigning for months, organizing marches to demand action. Their efforts have reportedly led to a planned visit by the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, David Mahlobo, though residents await tangible results.

Meanwhile, the Merafong City Municipality has remained largely silent. Despite queries from local media, no response has been forthcoming from its communications team. In a newsletter, the municipality claimed water trucks sent to Kokosi were obstructed, but residents counter that they wouldn’t have used the water anyway, fearing it was unclean.

For the people of Fochville and Kokosi, life has been reduced to a daily struggle for a most basic resource. Their plight is a desperate plea for a government to do its most fundamental job: to provide clean water and restore a community’s dignity.

{Source: Citizen} 

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