WITH Ntambanana having no water source, their situation is ‘unique’ and ‘cannot be compared’ to other municipal areas.
This is according to the uThungulu District, responding to reports in the Zululand Observer last week which outlined critical water shortages in Ntambanana.
uThungulu Municipal Manager Mandla Nkosi said the supply of water via pipelines to Ntambanana was currently being carried from other municipal areas, including uMhlathuze and Mthonjaneni.
‘As the water is pumped uphill, water users at the furthest end of the supply line will therefore receive water later than those at the beginning of the line,’ said Nkosi.
‘This is difficult when the infrastructure is still under construction. The infrastructure has to start at the supply source and continue along that municipality until pipelines can be built at Ntambanana, which is part of our five year plan. Areas which are not connected, are supplied by tankers, as boreholes are few and far between, and many have dried up as a result of drought,’ said Nkosi.
While the strike by WSSA (Water and Sanitation Services South Africa) employees was suspended last Friday, the District said the process of pumping water back to all consumers took a few days before optimum levels of service were reached.
Schools
Commenting on the supply of water to schools, uThungulu said all schools were supported by subsidies from the Department of Education for operational needs, including water and sanitation.
‘Where a school is not connected to a water supply system they do not pay water bills, but they must plan according to their water needs and order tankers of water from the District. They are invoiced by the District and the water is delivered.
‘When the supply is depleted they need to order more water. It is therefore not correct to blame the uThungulu District for a lack of water at Ntambanana schools where no order for the delivery of water was made or where the supply was depleted due to lack of proper planning,’ said Nkosi.
uThungulu has since been holding meetings with the Department of Education to formalise the process of water delivery to schools.
‘We acknowledge children should not suffer as a result of the actions of adults as the need for water is a basic human right.’
28 FEBRUARY 2014
Droplets of relief
WATER trickled to parched communities of Zululand this week as a prolonged strike by employees of WSSA (Water Services South Africa) came to a temporary halt on Friday.
Thousands of residents battled scorching temperatures without water as services in four municipalities – Nkandla, Mthonjaneni, uMlalazi and Ntambanana were severely hampered for two consecutive weeks.
WSSA are contracted to operate the uThungulu District’s water schemes in five municipalities.
On Wednesday, sources told the Zululand Observer, WSSA employees were back on site with all water schemes operating normally.
Last week, uThungulu employees were forced to man water schemes that had been shut down after staff union SAMWU (South African Municipal Workers Union) rejected a wage offer by the employer.
The suspension of the strike this week translated into good and bad news for residents affected by water supply.
After several reports in the Zululand Observer highlighting the severity of the water crisis in the Ntambanana area, certain residents of Macekane Reserve opened their taps to water for the first time since October on Tuesday morning.
However, for others, nothing had changed. Despite their predicament, community members were reluctant to voice their outrage for fear of victimisation from community and political leaders.
‘We have no water,’ said a community member at Macekane Reserve.
‘We solely depend on rain. We have not received a water tanker since 2010. I have to send my child to school with water in a 500ml buddy bottle collected from a nearby river where cows drink. It is hard for our children to concentrate at school without water. We live a miserable life here. Our children at school are forced to use pit toilets because there is no water.’
Tankers
At nearby Gxigxi Reserve, residents said they were receiving water three times a week from water tankers provided by the uThungulu District.
‘This is not enough for this big community. There are only four tanks stationed at different points in the reserve. Tankers deliver water to these points. By the time I arrive, there is no water,’ said Khulile Masuki.
For local schools, the only way to secure water is to hire two tankers costing approximately R1 200 per week which they cannot afford.
With Ntambanana showing an 81% backlog in water supply in 2001/2002, that figure has dropped to 42% in 2011/12 through initiatives being driven by the District. There are still 6 969 households without water in the area.
