Jozini Municipality intervenes in water crisis

THE failure of the uMkhanyakude District Municipality to provide residents with water, has prompted the Jozini Municipality to embark on a strategic plan to address the situation.

The local municipality has drilled a borehole in each of the 19 wards, and provided each ward with five water tanks.

They further bought a water tanker to ensure that all the tanks are always filled with clean water, saving residents from having to walk long distances.

Jozini Mayor, Delani Mabika, officially handed over the boreholes to the community on Saturday.

He said that even though they were not mandated to provide water to the residents, they were guided by the circular 11/2020 issued by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Nkosazana DlaminiZuma.

The circular urged all municipalities to review and re-prioritise capital projects to assist the communities during the Covid-19 outbreak.

‘After revising our projects, we managed to set aside R8-million. We drew a business plan and forwarded it to the uMkhanyakude district and to the national treasurer for approval, which was granted.

‘We erected stands for the JoJo tanks and bought a tanker to supply water to every corner of the Jozini Municipality,’ said Mabika.

‘We took a decision to install water pumps using a solar system, especially in some wards, where we discovered that there was water underground.

‘We are also planning to increase the number of taps in those areas to ensure that people do not queue.

‘We did all this under tremendous pressure, as people had no water at all, because our district dismally failed to deliver on its mandate,’ he said.

He added that in Ward 5, they could not find water and were now planning to engage with uMkhanyakude district, to ask for permission to resuscitate water infrastructure.

‘Most of our wards previously had water infrastructure and residents were getting water from their taps.

‘Since the district failed to maintain the infrastructure, all the taps went dry.

‘But for the meantime, we will deliver water to their JoJo tanks from Tuesday to Friday. We did all this as a temporary measure, as we are not mandated for water provision,’ he said.

The actions were applauded by local Induna, Mvangeli Ndlanzi, of Embondla Reserve in Mbambanana.

‘Our people have been struggling and walking long distances to get water, but we are delighted that at last our municipality came up with a clean plan to assist us,’ Ndlanzi said.

Jozini residents have already started to use these boreholes and resident Thembisile Sibiya, was grateful that their daily struggle was over.

‘We have been going in and out of the rivers looking for water. Some of us have been paying to get water, but we are glad that today the struggle is over,’ she said.