There were two eye-catching issues in the media this past week.

South Africa’s largest chicken producer, Astral, announced that its chicken plant in Standerton no longer receives sufficient water from the local Lekwa Municipality (Standerton). This plant is the largest on the continent and slaughters two million chickens weekly. In addition, Astral’s feed mill in Standerton is also the largest on the continent – one that was recently built at significant cost, following written assurances by the Municipality that sufficient water and electricity would be available. The reason for the lack of water supply to the largest employer in town? Ongoing poor maintenance of water infrastructure – pumps and pipe ducts – needed to pump water from the Vaal River 8 km away.