Johannesburg – Residents of Oakley Trust in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, have been without water for more than five years.
Some years ago, the Bushbuckridge local municipality installed taps in every household, but the water flowed and then stopped about five years ago.
Vincent Mokoena, a community leader, said they had tried every trick in the book to have access to clean water but to no avail. He said: “We are suffering when it comes to the issue of water.
We pay R150 to R250 to people who own pick-up vans to go and collect water for us in neighbouring villages. There are times when we spend about four months without water as most of the time the communal taps are dry.”
Mokoena said meetings were held with municipal officials, but no solution was forthcoming. Another resident, Vivien Phiri, shared the same sentiments.
“This situation is very bad, especially for unemployed people like me. Every month, I know that I must have R150 budget for water. I make sure that I use the water I buy sparingly. When doing laundry, I collect the water from the filthy river situated in the village.”
Residents appealed to their chief, Kgosi Mathupa Mokoena of the Mathibela Tribal Authority, to intervene and assist them.
Mokoena, who is also the president of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA resides in the same village, but he has water in his yard.
Mokoena did not respond to the enquiries sent via WhatsApp, even though his assistant promised he would do so. Bushbuckridge municipality spokesperson Claiton Khosa blamed illegal connections by members of new residential areas, which were allocated without consultation with the municipality.
“The municipality has drafted and adopted the water services by-laws, which are aimed at preventing the community from interfering with the government’s water infrastructure.
“After public consultation, the draft water service by-laws will be gazetted and thereafter enforced, which means that any member of the community who is found to have tempered with the municipal water infrastructure would have committed an offence and therefore be liable for a fine or imprisonment,” said Khosa.
By Masoka Dube
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
