Call for boreholes in KwaZayeka after taps and Jojo tanks remain dry
“Give us boreholes rather than empty tanks.”
A Sweetwaters induna has suggested the municipality install boreholes as the way to turn things around for his thirsty, tired community.
Unable to draw a drop of water from their taps linked to a tank that Msunduzi Municipality has failed to ever fill, residents have to walk more than four kilometers to a river that is also used by cattle, for water.
This has been the case for five years, residents told The Witness.
“The municipality promised to send a water tank everyday for people to get water but that has not been the case. It comes every once in a blue moon and when it does come, the only people that have access to it are those that live along the road,” said induna Phendulani Ndlovu in the KwaZayeka area of Sweetwaters.
Resident Sindiswa Ngcobo said people end up drinking water shared by cattle. “The water from the river is the same water that the cows in the area drink,” she said.
Ngcobo added that the municipality had put taps and pipes in their yards but the water tank that supplies the whole community has gone for years without being filled.
“They put Jojo tanks for us in our yards. They put taps for us in our yards as well, but we still don’t have water. My neighbour is an old woman. She cannot walk the long distance to go fetch water in the river.
“She normally opts to just pay people to go fetch water for her.
She’s paying with the little grant money that still needs to buy her and her grandchildren food,” said Ngcobo.
Another resident, Nobuhle Nkabinde, said her family has had to use different chemicals just to have clean drinking water.
“Our grandmothers drink this water. Our children drink this water. We wash our dishes, our pots, everything with this water and it is not been safe for us. We have to include things we can use to clean this water in our grocery lists and it has really been a struggle,” said Nkabinde.
Msunduzi Municipality spokesperson Ntobeko Mkhize said that the municipality is aware of the ongoing water crisis in Sweetwaters and has been working to address the challenge of intermittent water supply in the area.
“The currently ongoing upgrade of the Vulindlela bulk Water supply scheme will bring a solution to these challenges which are a result of the population growth and increased demand for Water in the communities,” said Mkhize.