By NONSINDISO QWABE and ATHENA O’REILLY
Recent rains throughout the Eastern Cape brought some relief to drought-stricken parts of the province.
Heavy rains were experienced in more than half of the province since last Thursday, and the South African Weather Service (SAWS) predicted that the wet weather would continue until tomorrow – along with cloudy and cold widespread showers.
Light snowfalls are also predicted to fall on higher ground.
SAWS spokesman Garth Sampson said most parts over the eastern half of the province had recorded more than 60mm of rain since last week.
However plenty of follow-up rain was still needed to make a significant difference to the drought-stricken province.
He said snowfalls could be expected over the eastern parts of Joe Gqabi and Chris Hani districts.
Also cold, wet and rainy weather with snow or sleet could be expected over the north eastern interior.
“Another cold front is expected to pass through on Thursday. Impact is expected to be minimal,” he said.
Rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane also welcomed the rain.
“We are very excited by this rainfall and we hope it will continue throughout the planting season so that agriculture increases harvest yields to make more contribution to the country and the province’s GDP,” he said.
Qoboshiyane said water scarcity had heavily affected livestock and crops because there was “no water, grass and other feed was unable to grow at required speed”.
“We hope the rains will continue to bucket and help pastures whose growth was scorched by the sun and scarcity of rain. In the past we shared with the public the mortalities induced by drought”.
Qoboshiyane advised farmers and residents with rainwater-harvesting equipment to store water.
BCM spokesman Samkelo Ngwenya said: “The city welcomes the recent rains and we are hopeful that they will bring some relief to many other areas.”
Ngwenya said dam level statistics would be available today. However, “we need good consistent rains for at least two weeks.
“We hope that this is the beginning otherwise if it is not consistent then it won’t make an impact”.
The rains in Mdantsane trapped residents in their homes yesterday after already muddy roads turned into streams in parts of NU16.
Residents said they last saw a contractor on site about three months ago after workers dug up a number of streets, leaving ditches and exposed boulders in the roads.
The Daily Dispatch reported on Friday that NU16 residents were up in arms over a road tarring project abandoned halfway, apparently because of financial constraints.
A Dispatch vehicle was stuck for more than two hours when a team visited the area yesterday.
Michael Dibela, who has lived in the area for 31 years, said many people were forced to leave their cars behind and take public transport to work.
“This is the situation we find ourselves in every time when it rains. Towards the end of last year we complained about the poor conditions of the roads and about three months ago they dug it up and left it like this.
“Some people couldn’t go to work today and even our school children were unable to attend school because the roads are bad on foot even,” Dibela said.
He said they had raised the state of the roads with their ward 23 councillor Xolani Simandla on several occasions.
The roads were slippery mudslides, making it very difficult to drive a vehicle on. Many cars were seen still parked in people’s yards.
Simandla said the situation was equally frustrating for him.
“We are aware of the problem and we are going to have a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the future of the project, because this is the same company that is in financial crisis that was appointed to tar the streets,” he said.
By the time of writing yesterday Buffalo City Metro spokeswoman Bathandwa Diamond was unable to comment. — oreillya@tisoblackstar.co.za