They swore that they will continue to block the R66 road in Showe with burning tires, residents who do not have water in Ziqwakweni, Mlalazi.
These disgusted citizens told It is a country that they have been without water for two months.
One of them, Mr. Ntethelelo Mpungose, said that what upsets them the most is that the residents of ward 9, which is their neighboring ward, have water.
“We feel humiliated as residents of ward 10. We don’t understand how it happened that in ward 9 there was water, but in ours, not even a drop comes out of the faucet,” said Mpungose.
He said they heard from one another that there are employees of the District Municipality, King Cetshwayo, who were bought by a certain political party to turn off the water in ward 9.
“We don’t know how true these allegations are, but they give us a lot to think about because we are not really being given water,” he said.
He said that they even hired cars that cost them R200 to buy water for them in ward 9. He said that the sad thing is that most of them do not work, they do not have this money.
“You need to spend at least two R200 a week to get enough water. We don’t have this money. Some households are run by the elderly. They are forced to break their pension to get water,” said Mpungose.
He said that some old women do not have this money, and even enter into obligations with rental cars to go and fetch water for themselves, they will pay when they receive their pension.
He pointed out that one of the things that bothers them is that there are trucks sent to supply them with water but their drivers sell them to families with money.
“Trucks come at night to fill tankers, who pay R500 for water. Those who have no money, they are left like that,” said Mpungose, who said that they also want no intervention in this.
Another resident, Mr. Sibusiso Mkhize, said that they will continue to protest until the water runs out of their taps.
“We are tired of being bullied. They keep telling us that we don’t know what to do, what we want is water,” said Mkhize.
The spokesperson for the King Cetshwayo District Municipality, Mrs Rekha Naidoo, said that the water problem facing the community of ward 10 in Mlalazi is not far away from being fully resolved. He said the municipal authorities of King Cetshwayo as well as Mlalazi held a meeting with the concerned citizens.
“The water disruption was caused by the water heater in Khwalokhloko. This was fixed on Friday,” said Mrs Naidoo.
He said that one thing that is happening is that the water is opened to the communities at different times, which makes them unable to get water at the same time. “In those areas where water does not come out, we provide them with trucks,” he said.
He promised that this situation seen in Ziqwakweni, will change in a few weeks from now as there are plans to end the water problem in wards 9 and 10.
He said the first project costing R65 million, which is about 78% completed, will be ready to be handed over to the public in the next two months, and will provide water to 1,350 families in Nkume, Gawozi and Ziqwaqweni. He stated that the second one costing R72 million, will provide for the same number of families in Ward 9, which he said is 92% completed.