Johannesburg – So dire is the shortage situation in Tumahole in Ngwathe Local Municipality, Free State, that residents have to walk long distances to fetch water from a spring outside their townships.
Residents, who have had to live with water mixed with mud when it comes out of their taps, now
prefer to walk long distances for fresh,
clean water.
When the Sunday Independent visited the area this week, residents were carrying bottles in wheelbarrows and some used their vehicles to
ferry water from the well back to their homes.
Tumahole is the second area in Free State to be in the spotlight after residents in Qwaqwa took to the streets demanding a reliable water supply in January.
DA Free State provincial leader Patricia Kopane said there were more than 20 towns in the Free State that either had no water at all, or were experiencing supply disruptions with an extremely unhygienic liquid coming from their taps.
“We have been fighting about this before it became fashionable. The problem with water crises in this province is because municipalities do not have people who are trained for maintenance, they hire people with no skills,” she said.
A resident in Sisulu section, Tshepo Xaba, said he was struggling to understand what the reason was for the shortage.
“It has been more than 10 years living without clean water. What I can tell you is that the mayor
is enjoying it because it benefits
her friends who are contracted to deliver water tanks using their trucks,” he said.
But even the water from the trucks is muddy.
“It’s like we are animals to the government. Even now, we have about four days without them delivering water in the area. But the truck owners are receiving their money.
“Some of us are surviving through rain water. Otherwise, we were going to join other residents fetching water from the spring,” said Xaba.
A fed-up Puleng Tshabalala said: “Just imagine our grandfathers and mothers having to push wheelbarrows full of bottles every day? This is sad,” lamented the 36-year-old.
And life is tough for Rachel Nkwane, 69, who is unable to travel the distance to fetch spring water.
“I am old and I can’t do anything. We have been without water for four years now. I have no energy to carry heavy bottles.
“But we are forced to carry them to the water tanks because we can’t live without water, and these people bring us dirty water.
“Now that there is no water from the tanks, I am forced to wait and it could be a day or two before the trucks get here,” she said.
Sunday Independent went to the spring and found Xolile Mokoena in the long queue. The 27-year-old also complained about the muddy water from the taps, saying this was the only place providing clean water.
“This is a tough life because I have to come here more than three times a day because I need water to cook and wash my clothes. Our municipality doesn’t even bother trying to sort out the situation,” he said.
According to leaders in the community, some areas in the Free State have been without water for 15 years and the Ngwathe Independent Community Association (Nica) has been knocking at the door of the municipality since 2014.
“They upgraded a water plant in Parys, but even today the plant still can’t supply water to us. When we ask them why, no one gives us answers,” he said.
Ngwathe is one of the municipalities which in 2019 regressed from a qualified audit to a disclaimed
opinion. This was after the
municipality provided insufficient information in the form of documentation to be audited to the auditor-general’s office.
Spokesperson Steven Naale said the municipality was providing water tanks to ensure that residents did not struggle with water, adding that they had to increase the number of trucks after residents said they were still going days without water despite the tanks in their areas.