After seven years without water, the community of Sand River near Hazyview said they have seen nothing of the promises made by the City of Mbombela (CoM).
The CoM installed some taps in this small village just before the local elections in 2016. However, the residents say they have not seen a drop of water from them.
They say the CoM used to supply water to the village with water tankers for the past six months, but even that has stopped, and now they are forced to buy drinking water from retailers, while those with JoJo tanks have no other option but to buy from water tankers contracted to the municipality. The residents also claim those with JoJo tanks are forced to pay for the free water from the CoM.
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The residents claim that despite promises by the CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, in May 2022 that the Hoxane Water Treatment Plant would become 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 are drinking from polluted streams.
However, some of the illegal connections had been removed by contractors who claim they had been hired by the CoM.
Some of the affected community members say they did not bother to register to vote, because they feel it is of no use when no changes occur where they live.
ALSO READ: Villagers around Hazyview connect to water illegally, claiming nothing is done to supply them
“Water is a basic right, but as we are not getting that. Why should we vote for the people to get into power to loot instead of working for the people who voted for them? We are a civilised community, so taking the matter to the streets and burning tyres is not our style. We have come to terms with the fact that the municipality does not care about us, but only about lining their own pockets. So we will use the power of not voting so that they can see how serious we are about this matter,” they said.
Ngala said he has referred the matter to the CoM officials responsible for water issues in Hazyview, and they have promised to do a site inspection in the area soon in order to resolve the matter. However, by the time of publication this had not yet happened.
