Durban - Residents of uMhlathuze Local Municipality in Empangeni may soon breathe a sigh of relief as the municipality promises to have water running by December.
The residents of Empangeni have had to bear the pain of having taps that often run dry, forcing them to adapt to a “new norm”, they claimed.
They have blamed the local municipality for their challenges and accused it of being uncaring. Local Dlangezwa resident MM Mabaso, who runs a fast food outlet from a shipping container, selling popular eats like kotas (quarter of the loaf of bread) and wings, relies heavily on water for his home-based business.
Mabaso said water supply issues had been a problem for years and they got by through collecting water in buckets and drums, when it was available. “We wake at odd hours of the night when the water runs through the taps, so that we don’t miss out,” said Mabaso.
At times water would be available at 1am, for about an hour or two, but when they woke later, supply would be cut off again. “It’s the second week that we haven’t had water at all. We sometimes collect water at nearby streams for washing clothes,” Mabaso said. He believed a few things had contributed to the challenged supply of water, which included protests, where residents burned infrastructure.
“Even though this is not right, we are frustrated. We sometimes see water tankers, but even those are inconsistent,” said Mabaso.
Another resident, Lwazi Mbhele, said with time, they had become accustomed to the situation. “When water is available, you have to collect as much as you can because you don’t know what will happen next. Other times we buy drinking water. Water we use for washing is also used to flush the toilet,” said Mbhele.
Residents from eSikhaleni, also in Empangeni, faced the same problems. On August 25, local mayor Xolani Ngwezi visited the Lake Icubhu water pump to inspect the progress of repair to the water pumps and subsequently released a statement on Facebook.
“Two pumps are running and the reservoir level is increasing steadily. Under normal circumstances, the plant operates with three pumps. We are working on having the third pump running. We are also inspecting the generator to ensure that it is able to run all three pumps at once,” read the statement.
They explained that generators were currently being used to power the water pumps, but they did not work as efficiently as normal electricity, and were awaiting an order for new transformers. In the interim, water tankers procured by the municipality, in an attempt to limit the outsourcing of the vehicles, were used to provide supply to residents.
The municipality said it had invested more than R50 million, through the Mhlathuze Water Board, to procure another water pump so that water could be drawn from the Tsetsi Dam and eradicate the cuts. Spokesperson for the municipality Bongani Gina said uMhlathuze’s water challenges had been present for many years, prior to the current administration taking office nine months ago. He said their problems were exacerbated by the growth of the municipality’s population.
“The current administration noted there was a high demand for water, which could not be met by infrastructure in place, especially at the eSikhaleni cluster, which covers areas such as Madlankana, Dlangezwa and Felixton,” said Gina. Water cuts were introduced to distribute water equally, with water usually being available in the morning and the supply closed in the afternoon.
“This measure gives reservoirs sufficient time to reload enough water for the supply,” said Gina. He cited internal politics as another factor that had led to their water supply challenges. “The municipality has had incidents where infrastructure was broken and damaged.
Their investigations revealed that internal damage was inflicted on infrastructure and they have since suspended three employees. Investigations are ongoing. This has also interrupted the city’s water distribution programme,” said Gina.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE