Sand River waterless for seven years
Desperate and poor residents from Sand River and surrounding villages have been forced to rely on illegal connections and drinking from polluted streams. Read more about their plight here.
The City of Mbombela (CoM) installed some taps in the small Sand River village near Hazyview just before the local elections in 2016, but to date, the residents said they have not seen a drop of water from it.
They claim that since then, water tankers that should supply free water have been demanding payment from those who own JoJo tanks. Despite promises by the CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, in May 2022 that the Hoxane Water Treatment Plant would be operational, nothing has come of that, either. Desperate and poor residents from Sand River and surrounding villages have been forced to rely on illegal connections and drinking from polluted streams.
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Given Ngomane said the taps were installed to ensure that they would vote, but after the people they voted for got into power, they forgot about them. “It’s been more than seven years since the taps were installed, and we had several meetings with the previous ward councillor and some officials from the municipality, but nothing happened,” he said.
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Vusi Nkosi said the municipality is taking advantage of these residents, as they know the community will not protest. “We always approach them in a civil way. I think its about time we provoke them and use the language they understand, which is striking. I understand that our government wants us to do something bad before they give us water. I also understand the taps installed in our houses will never work, as it was merely a ploy to buy our votes,” he said.
He said what the community wants is water, even if it is only from the water tankers – it would be better than nothing. He also accused the ward councillor of ignoring their calls in which they attempted to arrange a meeting with him to address the issues.
Ngala once again undertook to revert to the publication with a comment, but nothing had been heard from him by the time of publishing.
