Tsakane residents say they have not had access to water for seven weeks and are so thirsty and desperate that they have even resorted to using water they fetch from a brick-manufacturing site and a polluted body of water they call a stream.
Pushing wheelbarrows and mobile bins from their homes in Mandela Section in Tsakane, young and old, men and women, boys and girls, collect bucketfuls daily.Children were unable to go to school.When News24 visited the area on Wednesday, ash and the remains of burnt tyres and trees littered the streets.We have been protesting for water without a solution. [The] Ekurhuleni municipality doesn't care for us. Our municipality is interested in collecting rates and taxes. They are failing us.
According to another resident, Ouma Radebe, some people had diarrhoea and their toilets were blocked. "We are sick. Our children are also sick. We are suffering. Our toilets are blocked. We fetch dirty water to boil before consumption. The problem comes when there is load shedding to boil this water. We have been promised lies. Ekurhuleni officials lied that they would bring water tankers. We haven't seen those trucks," Radebe said."Our toilets are not clean. The smell is unbearable. Our houses stink. Flies are taking over our spaces.
When they want our votes, we matter to them. After taking our votes, they disappear. No one cares if we have or we will have water or not. Where are our politicians when we need them? They will only come next year when they want our votes again. This time, we must show them who we are."We can't bath and flush our toilet. This water from the stream is used for toilet and washing. We are desperate. Our municipality has deserted us. We need water urgently.
According to Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini, the water outage was caused by technical problems in reservoirs belonging to Rand Water.He was unable to give the precise location of the tankers but said he knew they had been deployed to the area.In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust. For 14 free days, you can have access to a world of in-depth analyses, investigative journalism, top opinions and a range of features. Journalism strengthens democracy.
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