DAANTJIE – An old-age centre is in desperate need of water after being without it for the past five months. Yehla Ngelosi Centre has been in a dire straits for months now.
The centre was supplied with water by Sembcorp Silulumanzi as a gesture by an employee of the company, Mr Mzwakhe Mbuli, but was forced to stop supplying it because Yehla Ngelosi was not on the company’s schedule-supply list and therefore was not meant to receive any water.
Ms Sonto Hlungwane of Sembcorp Silulumanzi said, “We were trying our best to help it from the day it opened because it was assisting the elderly in the area, but our hands are tied because we were told not to supply it anymore.”
The centre was established by Ms Helen Ndinisa in 2010 and her associates Ms Anna Masinga, Ms Olga Tibane and Mr Andrew Mlimi and received support from the Guardian Angels and Operation Hunger.
The centre caters for over 50 senior men and women and provides meals for needy children in the surrounding region every day. However, with the shortage of water it had been struggling frantically to provide food. Its main source of food supply which was their garden, was no longer fully functional because of the lack of water.
The crops which had been ploughed had dried up because they were not receiving regular water.
“We are fed up with the situation and because we do not receive a salary, there is no way for us to pay for water supply. Without the help from locals and businesses around the region we would not have had a centre,” said Ndinisa.
Speaking to Mpumalanga News, spokeman for Sembcorp Silulumanzi, Mr Richmond Jele, said the water company only supplied the centre following a crisis that it (centre) had had.
He indicated that other centres bought their own water or had other means of receiving it. “Ideally we would like everyone to be able to receive water from their taps but due two the limited resources, this is not the case.” Jele added that this was because it had to supply 153 JoJo tanks, 187 water stations including primary schools and three clinics with water.
