The residents of Refilwe township in Tshwane, who have been without water for months, took their frustration to the streets on Thursday.
The residents were demanding that the city to provide them with running water, saying that the lack of water supply is affecting their daily activities.
The elderly also complained about not having water to take their crucial daily medication, and that the water tanks provided are too far to access.
In Winterveld, north of Tshwane, residents are also experiencing water supply shortages.
A resident, Omphile Comfort, said: “The water crisis is really frustrating now, and there isn’t even an update as to what is happening.”
The City of Tshwane MMC for utility services, Darryl Johnson, has urged residents to use water sparingly.
With Pretoria being on level 1 water restrictions, Johnson said: “This is the level which the metro was at before, and the level we have been at for many years in this metro.
“The reality is that water scarcity challenges are not likely to be fixed immediately, and that means we need to use water sparingly.”
The following restrictions are applicable during level 1:
– Do not water or irrigate gardens with a hosepipe or sprinkler between 6am and 6pm.
– Do not wash vehicles with hosepipes or high-pressure systems.
He said this would remain in place for the foreseeable future.
Johnson added that the metro will find ways to build capacity to prevent a repeat of these outages in future.
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