Five years of water shortages in KZN township

About 200 homes are affected by sewer drains overflowing from yards and about 50 homes are without any water in Sibongile township near Dundee. Photos: Bongane Motaung

Residents of Sibongile township near Dundee have lived with water shortages for five years, with some areas going completely without water. In areas where water is available, residents only have access for less than six hours daily.

“Long-term water shedding taught us to save water in bathtubs to flush toilets,” says Khonolethu Msomi. “Municipal water tankers are not frequent and consistent, sometimes disappearing for two to three weeks. We’re forced to ask for water from homes in the main Sibongile Location. If tankers don’t show up, we have to buy water.”

The crisis has halted development in the area. Ward 5 Councillor Sphamandla Kheswa (ANC) says investors have pulled back and housing projects in Mzimusha, Cwebezela, Crackside, and Glenrich have stalled due to water shortages.

At Mselegu Apartments in Lindelani, caretaker Nonhlanhla Khumalo struggles to maintain basic services for tenants. “I have piles of dirty laundry, including children’s clothes, because we can only wash once a month. Tenants keep asking how they’re going to flush toilets,” she says.

The landlord spends R10 to buy 40-litres of water per tenant from private suppliers for the 22-room apartment complex.

The residents association has invited Afriforum to test the water quality, with legal action planned once the results are released.

“The water crisis will continue being a major problem if infrastructure remains unfixed,” said the association’s vice chair Willen Steenberg.

Water tanks were promised in June 2023, but residents say these never materialised.

Endumeni Civic Association is now planning to go to court. It is engaging Legal Aid and the Legal Resources Centre to take legal action against the district municipality.

Sewage problems compound the lack of water for sanitation. Endumeni Civic Association convener Mzwakhe Sithebe says homes near streams and storm water pipes have been affected by sewage spillage since 2009.

Sithebe said the Department of Health reported a cholera outbreak in the area at a local “war room” meeting, but uMzinyathi District Municipality was “folding their hands”. GroundUp could not verify this claim.

Kheswa says about 200 homes are affected by sewage spills.

But uMzinyathi District Municipality spokesperson Thandeka Ngobese says the municipality provides water even to the deepest valleys and attends to sewer spillages when reported. She blamed foreign objects in the sewers for the spillages.

Khonolethu Msomi stores water in his bathtub to flush toilets during long water shedding outages in Lindelani section of Sibongile Township in Dundee, northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Published in partnership with Intuthuko News.

GroundUp experimented with AI Claude 3.5 Sonnet in the editing of this article.

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