Residents demand running water
Ward 5 Cllr Siphamandla Kheswa commented that he is aware of the picketing and the community members are well within their rights, as UDM has been making empty promises to fix the water supply problems in Lindelani.
Lindelani area residents picketed outside the Umzinyathi District Municipality (UDM) offices on Monday morning, carrying empty buckets and empty bottles as they demanded water.
They were escorted into council chambers by UDM Operations & Maintenance manager German Dlozi. Tempers flared and the heated debate almost turned physical when UDM employees demanded that the crowd wait outside the building. Sizowakha Securities personnel were called to the scene and calmed the situation.
According to the protesting residents, they have not had water for over a week and tankers were only dispatched on Thursday night. “The municipality does not take us seriously, as we have been complaining about sewer leaks and sometimes not having water for months on end,” said resident Linda Mthembu.
He explained that even when they do have running water, it’s always ‘dirty, stinking and undrinkable’.
“When we do have water, it’s not safe for consumption. Even animals would not drink such dirty water, yet our complaints have fallen on deaf ears,” emphasised Mthembu. He questioned Dlozi about areas that don’t get water even after the scheduled water-shedding times. “Some areas, like Section 18 and 19, don’t have water at all and depend on neighbouring areas. UDM is aware of this problem, but choose to ignore us,” he added. He also asked why water tankers were only dispatched at night and asked Dlozi whether they consider disabled and elderly people, as they cannot go out in the dark to collect water.
Mthembu concluded that since UDM does not take them seriously, they will have to revolt by closing the streets, since that’s the only language the municipality understands. Sanele Khanyile asked Dlozi to teach his co-workers to deal with the community in a polite manner and not resort to anger. Dlozi countered that the municipality is currently experiencing a problem with the Tayside low-lift pumps.
As a result, Dundee town, Sibongile township, Glencoe town and Sithembile location are affected by water outages that take longer than usual to sort out. “To my understanding, these areas had water throughout the weekend. I was unaware that there was no water,” said Dlozi.
He further explained that in Dundee, water-shedding is from 10:00 to 16:00 and 04:00 to 10:00.
Dlozi also highlighted that they have had a problem regarding this matter since 2018 and he told his superiors about it at the time. “I told them that Endumeni’s water supply was moved from eight million litres to 12 million litres and the plant can only produce eight million litres. I explained to my superiors that in six years’ time, we won’t have any water to supply in Endumeni at this rate,” he explained. According to him, the municipality started with the process of upgrading the Tayside plant, which gets water from Chelmsford Dam in Newcastle. However, they were unable to get water from Chelmsford Dam from August to December.
“We are done with the upgrading of the Tayside plant and we now need to upgrade the Biggarsberg plant so that it can supply us with water,” he explained. He added that the Department of Water Affairs will then need to give UDM a licence to open 14-20 mega-litres that will be produced by the plant. “Right now, we don’t have enough water to meet the population’s demand,” he concluded.
Regarding the dirty brown water, Dlozi explained that the water gets tested every Monday. “I have a team at the water plant station that tests the water and takes it to an external laboratory for further tests. The reason why it’s brown is that disturbed minerals, sediment or rust will mix with the clear water and cause tap water to appear brown,” explained Dlozi.
Ward 5 Cllr Siphamandla Kheswa commented that he is aware of the picketing and the community members are well within their rights, as UDM has been making empty promises to fix the water supply problems in Lindelani.
“I have spoken to UDM managers and our complaints fall on deaf ears,” said Cllr Kheswa.
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