Some are the poorest of the poor and they have had to rely on store-bought water because of an ongoing strike by workers at the Ugu District Municipality.
Communities were being supplied by tanker, but the municipality was forced to stop the service because a ‘pressure group’ started intimidating drivers.
Working with a skeleton staff of senior people, the municipality has worked tirelessly to restore water to areas.
However, the moment they get the water to flow, the pipes and valves are sabotaged.
A court interdict has been ignored by workers, police and security firms are on high alert and the crisis has been elevated to the provincial government who has declared it ‘a disaster’.
Currently, there is a ‘Mexican stand-off’ between management and workers who are demanding back-pay and ‘overtime’ following a previous strike over a cancelled ‘death and disability’ insurance scheme.
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At that stage, the municipality capitulated and refunded millions to the workers to get them back to work, but they also implemented a ‘no work, no pay’ policy.
Hence the latest strike.
While some South Coast residents have the luxury of drawing water from swimming pools, there are many thousands who don’t.
Unemployment is high and money is scarce, yet they are now forced to buy bottled water to live.
Caxton is making a general appeal to readers of its newspapers to drop off any bottled water at their local newspaper office.
The water will then be trucked down to the South Coast Herald offices in Port Shepstone for distribution to the neediest communities.
Donations can be dropped off at the Brakpan Herald’s office at 61 Van der Walt Road in Dalview.
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