By: Lungisa Somtombo
Residents in Dubu Village, King Williams Town were left without water since October last year. An arrangement for water tanks was made but was not enough as the tanks don’t come in regularly.
Villagers allege the water problem started in October last year and that a water tank comes over to give water only to a few houses and leaves without giving the whole village.
An old woman who wanted to remain anonymous said they were told to put their water drums in the main road when the truck arrives in order to receive water supply.
“They come and pour water on the main road, we as old people don’t have the energy to go and get water in the main road as my legs are aching”, she said.
She further said they once asked if the water tanks could come through their houses and the person who drives the truck refused saying it was not part of his job to go through their houses.
The old woman likes the new system where the water tanks pours water into the borehole and it goes through people’s taps but the water gets finished very quickly.
“While we were still enjoying water from our taps, the water just passed to the lower part of the village and we didn’t get them here at the top”, she said.
Speaking on the importance of water Anathi Ponoyi who works at Nokhanyo Day Care Centre said they work with children and it is a necessity to have water.
“The water tanks deliver water to certain villages every two days and sometimes doesn’t come on the day they are supposed to, forcing us to wait”, said Ponoyi.
Speaking to Buffalo City Metro News, ward 40 councillor Kholiwe Faku said she made sure everyone gets water and requested three water tanks from the municipality to deliver water to the villages.
“The water tank visits a village for two days to give people water and I told them to collect as much water as they can from the tank when it arrives so it lasts them longer”, said Faku.
The councillor added that the water tanks deliver to every village for two days and on the other days visit other villages as there’s many villages with a water crisis like the Kodidi and Nonkcampa village.
Faku said when residents encounter problems with the arrival of water tanks they should call and tell her to arrange with the person driving the truck.