No water and no answers in Zinkwazi

Zinkwazi residents are furious at the non-existent service delivery from Ilembe municipality that has left them without water and without answers.

Meanwhile holidaymakers have been steadily leaving the town due to the lack of water.

According to resident Paul Smith, the municipality has been unable to deliver a reliable domestic water supply since November 8.

“Many B&Bs in Zinkwazi are losing a lot of customers because of this incompetence,” said Smith.

“The public toilets at the beach also don’t have water. Can you imagine what a health hazard that is going to cause over New Year when thousands of people descend upon the beach?

“Prior to this, the supply had been erratic following a major overhaul of the water infrastructure last year,” said Smith.

“Also during this period a compulsory replacement of all the domestic meters with ‘pay-as-you-go’ type was effected by Illembe.”

This means that residents are paying in advance for their water supply – a supply that has dried up.

“We have telephoned Illembe – as have many other residents – several times, and basically they don’t appear to have the slightest idea of what is happening, in fact placating callers with lies. ‘Supply will be resumed in 18 hours’ is one priceless quote from a few days ago,” Smith complains.

The Courier was unable to obtain any comment from Ilembe Municipality as their spokesperson is apparently on leave and the communications manager did not respond to email or telephone calls.

Meanwhile, residents have taken to Facebook to express their outrage, flooding the Zinkwazi Beach Community Forum page with complaints and accounts of their struggles to get water for the most basic of needs, such as drinking and washing water and toilet-flushing.

According to a poll created on the page on Monday, at least 30 residents say they have been without water for six or more days.

Gail Harris, administrative manager for the Zinkwazi Beach Ratepayers and Residents Association told The Courier that they are working together with municipality and local estate agents to rectify the situation.

“At present Ilembe is sending in seven water tankers a day to provide water to residents as the boreholes are just not coping,” said Harris.

Ward 3 councillor James van Wyk said as far as he knows the issues with water supply have arisen as a result of “problems with the pump at the plant”.

“Ilembe municipality told me that they will have it fixed within a week,” said van Wyk.

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