The water crisis in the area remains unchanged, and residents now face a fifth month without a stable and clean water supply to their homes.

Those who can afford it, have to buy water for cooking and drinking, while others, many of whom are aged, have to carry containers to the nearest farms and towns to collect water for bathing and other household needs.

This has now led to the DA’s provincial MPL, Trudie Grové-Morgan, approaching the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to intervene in the water crisis in certain areas in Mpumalanga, White River being at the top of the list.

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“It is completely unacceptable that residents are being sent from pillar to post in the hope of finding a solution to the water crisis in their respective municipalities. The DA maintains that load-shedding did not happen overnight, and provided affected municipalities with enough time to find long-term solutions to provide residents with water. Given that access to water is a fundamental and basic human right, we will now be approaching the SAHRC to intervene,” she said.

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Grové-Morgan said she finds it extremely disconcerting that, despite water being a basic and fundamental human right, White River, under the aegis of the City of Mbombela (CoM), has been struggling to provide its residents with a stable and clean water supply over the past five months.

Some of the residents, tired of the continuing water problems, are even prepared to protest naked against the situation, as one resident had threatened last week. Load-shedding and its impact on the water system, and the lack of backup generators at the water treatment plant, have caused a huge water supply shortage, which CoM seems either unwilling or unable to rectify.

The CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, said the municipality is aware of the crisis and is working on a permanent solution. “We are in the process of securing generators for all our water plants so that the people will still have water during power cuts,” he said.
However, this has been his comment for the last couple of months, with still no sign of any permanent solution or long-term plan.

He also said the municipality was prepared to organise on-site storage for emergency water and was willing to provide tankers to the affected areas.