Troubled Waters
This report follows the uphill struggle of local inhabitants against the privatisation of their water. At the heart of the shadowy process is Biwater, a British company. The locals have their own tactics, able even to defeat the restriction of their water flow. Often, however, they must resort to drinking canal water, ridden with disease.
03:49 car with loudspeaker driving through South African town in Nelspruit
04:15 outdoor meeting of local residents against water privatisation
05:49 rally with ‘stop privatisation’ placards
05:54 large protest
06:03 protest with banners
06:06 Biwater logo (private UK company running worldwide water services)
06:09 banner of the Greater Nelspruit Utility Company (Biwater + local Black empowerment company)
06:11 GNUC board at decorated table
06:16 deal being signed by GNUC
06:40 Nelspruit countryside
06:54 contaminated water at GNUC site
07:04 director of GNUC contemplating scummy water
07:30 properly running tap
07:33 villagers collecting water from pump
07:48 infant by tap
08:21 infant filling jug
08:31 villagers washing crockery by tap
10:02 peeling oranges with knives
11:08 Nelspruit district on hillside
12:02 water meter
12:05 mother displaying water receipts
12:17 family with their water receipt
12:59 clogged water refiner
13:12 water purification machine
13:18 water purification plant
13:55 tap with ‘restricted flow’
14:00 youth removing imposed restriction device from tap
15:11 dirty water gushing out from turbine at plant
15:30 youths playing basketball
15:47 youths in slick BMW driving through impoverished area
16:24 gaudy yellow flowers
16:29 lawnmower
16:59 garden behind house
18:22 wire-frame toy car
18:25 youths trawling wire car
18:32 hen with chick
20:58 workers by roadside
21:30 villagers standing by empty water buckets
21:38 empty water buckets
22:04 leak in water pipes
22:35 makeshift grave
22:55 certificate of death by cholera
23:14 woman fetching water from canal
26:34 women carrying water containers on their heads
29:09 END
FULL SYNOPSIS
04:15 outdoor meeting of local residents against water privatisation
05:49 rally with ‘stop privatisation’ placards
05:54 large protest
06:03 protest with banners
06:06 Biwater logo (private UK company running worldwide water services)
06:09 banner of the Greater Nelspruit Utility Company (Biwater + local Black empowerment company)
06:11 GNUC board at decorated table
06:16 deal being signed by GNUC
06:40 Nelspruit countryside
06:54 contaminated water at GNUC site
07:04 director of GNUC contemplating scummy water
07:30 properly running tap
07:33 villagers collecting water from pump
07:48 infant by tap
08:21 infant filling jug
08:31 villagers washing crockery by tap
10:02 peeling oranges with knives
11:08 Nelspruit district on hillside
12:02 water meter
12:05 mother displaying water receipts
12:17 family with their water receipt
12:59 clogged water refiner
13:12 water purification machine
13:18 water purification plant
13:55 tap with ‘restricted flow’
14:00 youth removing imposed restriction device from tap
15:11 dirty water gushing out from turbine at plant
15:30 youths playing basketball
15:47 youths in slick BMW driving through impoverished area
16:24 gaudy yellow flowers
16:29 lawnmower
16:59 garden behind house
18:22 wire-frame toy car
18:25 youths trawling wire car
18:32 hen with chick
20:58 workers by roadside
21:30 villagers standing by empty water buckets
21:38 empty water buckets
22:04 leak in water pipes
22:35 makeshift grave
22:55 certificate of death by cholera
23:14 woman fetching water from canal
26:34 women carrying water containers on their heads
29:09 END