South Africa is listed as one of the water scarce countries.
Last year it was reported that drastic efforts are underway in the country to save a major, modern city from running out of water for the first time ever.
Cape Town was declared a national disaster by the country’s government.
A three-year drought has dropped the water level behind the crucial Voëlvlei Dam to dangerously low levels and city officials said at that time they’ll be forced to shut off most water taps.
Emalahleni had to deal with water problems as well but the residents of KwaGuqa Extension 11 believed that their case was unique.
They said they have been complaining about their water problems for a long time now and their pleas are failing on deaf ears.
Mr Patrick Nkosi says he started staying in the area from 2000 and he started experiencing water problems from 2014 as they did not have water for a week, then it was a month and after that they use to be off for a three month period.
The problem continued to date as now they do not have water supplied to them.
“I have tried several times to contact the municipality and every time I am told the same thing that water will be supplied but not. They always asked about my account and I am always up to date with my account. I am one of the fortunate ones because I was able to buy a Jojo tank and I am able to fetch water with my van. Last year (2018), water came back on December 1 and we were happy and after that water was gone on December 25 on a Christmas day,” Mr Nkosi said.
Mr Nkosi wants to know exactly what the problem is with water supply in their area.
The other residents are affected in different ways, he is also concerned about the elderly who are unable to fetch water and those without money to pay for people to fetch water for them.
He said their geysers are affected by the crisis.
“We have read and heard that our Witbank Dam was nearly full but where does the water go to, can somebody tell us exactly where the problem is?’ asked Mr Nkosi.
A questionnaire was sent to the eMalahleni Local Municipality for a respond but none was received.
