Stampriet water woes

A Stampriet business owner has dragged the village council to court to have water supply restored to his shop following a dispute that arose over water rationing at the town, allegedly due to the municipality's unpaid NamWater bills. Hennie Martinus Theron, owner of the Hennie Theron Sentra at Stampriet, alleges in an urgent application filed at the High Court this month that water rationing was implemented, without any notice to residents, in June 2018. Upon enquiry, he was allegedly told that NamWater had reduced the village's water supply because the village council had failed to pay its debts. “The only conclusion I came to after my inquiry was that the [village council] mismanaged the funds obtained from selling the water to the residents living in Stampriet and/or was negligent in not collecting the amounts owing by the people using water in Stampriet,” Theron's founding affidavit states. By last Wednesday, the village council and CEO Dino Kohima had not yet filed papers in response to Theron's version, but they did indicate they would defend the case. Kohima confirmed that water rations remained in place but said he could not comment further because the matter was before court. Bad for businessA council official last week said the village had water between 08:00 and 15:00 every day.But Theron's founding affidavit states that after June 2018, water supply was irregular during the day and “sometimes the business only had three hours of water usage per day”.The scarcity of water severely affected business operations and opened him up to labour law irregularities. “The ration system infringes upon my employees' fundamental human rights, seeing that there are no sanitation facilities when there is no water supply,” Theron's affidavit states.He added that the lack of water was “not good for business and my impeccable good name as a grocer”.Eventually, Theron said, he was forced to spend N$30 000 on a water tank and pressure pump. He told the court that he informed CEO Kohima in 2018 that he would no longer pay water bills “unless I can effect payments directly to NamWater”.Kohima refused the proposal, the court documents state. “I couldn't fathom why the business' water should be rationed if its utility bill to the village council was fully paid,” he explained.In mid-2019, Theron again met with village council officials to reach a solution.He says he offered to settle the outstanding N$13 724.40 water bill that had accumulated, and offered to pay a monthly N$1 000 instalment on condition that the council deduct “N$13 000 of the capital expenses I incurred as a result of their mismanagement of the village council's finances”.Moreover, he underlined again that he would pay NamWater directly. No more waterThe 2019 meeting ended in deadlock, and “I was under the impression that negotiations will continue on this topic at a later stage”.However, in late January, two technicians arrived at Theron's shop and informed him that his water supply would be terminated.He was advised to speak to the village council's accountant. On 30 January, despite no further communication between the parties, according to Theron, he discovered that the shop's stop valve “was tampered with and turned off”. The shop has had no water supply since then. Since the taps were closed permanently, Theron says he has had to fill 25-litre water cans at his home which he takes to his business.He filed the urgent application at the beginning of February to have the water supply restored. Theron informed the court that currently he, his employees and clients have no access to toilet facilities and he is unable to provide a safe and clean work environment. Moreover, he is arguing that the water supply disruption is unlawful.Last Tuesday, High Court judge Collins Parker agreed to hear the case on an urgent basis.He ordered the village council to file answering papers no later than 18 February.The case was postponed to 10 March.Petrus Jacobus Liebenberg is representing Theron while government attorney Aina Ndungula is acting on behalf of the Stampriet local authority. JANA-MARI SMITH

Stampriet water woes

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-09-10

Please login to leave a comment

Stampriet water woes

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-09-10

Please login to leave a comment

Login