People from parts of Gauteng expressed frustration after not having water and those who had access to water from water tankers complained that it was inadequate.
The lack of water was due to planned maintenance by Rand Water.
To mitigate the situation, the City of Ekurhuleni said it provided water tankers to customers in areas such as Clayville, Daveyton, Dawn Park, Duduza, Dunnottar, Etwatwa, KwaThema, Modder East, PAM Brink, Persida, Rietfontein, Salies, Selcourt, Sharon Park, Vosloorus and other parts.
Frustrated resident of Daveyton, Primrose Maseko, speaking to The Star on Wednesday, said water is partially back but in some areas it is still not back. “We are aware that water maintenance by Rand Water is part of service delivery, but we were not cushioned and protected from the impact of it. Ekurhuleni Municipality did not provide enough water tankers and the water which was provided by some of the water tankers was not clean and drinkable. Most people who could afford had to buy water and those who had bakkies were selling water per bucket to refill for residents, of which not everyone could afford even R10. Some clinics like Barcelona closed and referred patients to other facilities, which overwhelmed them,” said Maseko.
He highlighted the fact that currently it is winter season, which is known for flu and infections, and that not having water in homes and public spaces may increase the rate of flu infections, which affects the health facilities.
Maseko, a community leader, said small businesses that run in the townships were also affected as most if not all rely on water, especially those who sell food and car washes.
He said that on Tuesday the situation deteriorated as there was also no electricity.
“Not having two basic needs such as electricity and water made the situation worse. People could not even boil water to keep it clean nor prepare food,” he said.
Maseko said the after-effect of all this is that most street fire hydrants in the township are damaged as people tried to open them, unauthorised, to check if they couldn’t get any water from them.
“Next time authorities do water maintenance, it is paramount that they do proper educational programmes to communities explaining the importance and the need for such. They should relay the message in African languages if they can, and they must use accessible communication mediums to communicate because the majority of people who get impacted by such maintenance don't have easy access to the mediums they used to communicate,” he said.
Thamsanqa Dlamini, a resident of Etwatwa, said this water shutdown was taking longer than anticipated.
“The water is not back yet, the schools where my two children attend requested us not to bring children to school due to the water cuts. I had to make plans to go with the children to work because I could not find someone to look after them at such short notice. The cost of living is too high, and now I had to purchase water,” said Dlamini.
Ekurhuleni Metro confirmed that water was gradually being reinstated to the table areas; it was confirmed today that there is full restoration to Vosloorus and Nigel and the system is gradually picking up to the affected areas.
MMC for water and sanitation Thembi Msane and her team made a site visit in Vosloorus on Wednesday to assess all their systems after major repairs by Rand Water.
“We can safely confirm that some of the systems are up and running. In Vosloorus where we are today we are getting water at full pressure in their taps. We also want to confirm as a department that we have area engineers to make sure that everybody receives water. We want to inform our people that in areas such as Etwatwa, KwaThema, which are high-lying areas, will be the ones to receive water last in the next two to three weeks. This means those people will no longer struggle with water trucks because the municipality will have more resources in order to beef up where we have not been able to received water from the system. Our area engineers are on site full-time monitoring the process to make sure that water is restored in Ekurhuleni,” said Msane.
Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said this week marks the final phase in the entity’s month-long proactive maintenance which commenced on June 22.
“Maintenance of water infrastructure is critical to improve the reliability, integrity and long-term preservation of the infrastructure to ensure sustainable and uninterrupted supply of bulk potable water,” said Maroo.
She said the final phases include maintenance work at Zuikerbosch water treatment plant which resumed on Monday, planned to take place for 40 hours ending on Tuesday.
She said some areas will recover faster than other areas.
This is the case in most parts as water has not been restored yet.
Meanwhile, residents of Ext. 5 in Mamelodi in Tshwane also complained about the lack of water in their area.
On Tuesday, a video showing residents carrying buckets to collect water fighting went viral on social media platform X. The video had more than 120K views.
One resident is heard saying: “People from Extension 5 will get injured. They are pushing and fighting as a result the water is spilling. There is no order.”
The Star