Tongaat taps run dry leaving residents without water for days

Residents of Tongaat, Burbreeze and Maidstone were left without water for days last week, without explanation and apparently without help from their ward councillors.

According to Ethekwini Metro communications acting head, Mandla Nsele, this was caused by the poor quality of water flowing to the waterworks following heavy rain.

“The water treatment plant in Tongaat was unable to treat the raw water and produce quality water. The city was left with no option but to shut the system down to recover, rather than endanger the lives of residents.”

Nsele said reservoirs supplying the Tongaat area were emptied and took time to fill. Most areas were expected to receive water by last Friday and the city apologised for the inconvenience.

A Maidstone resident who asked to remain anonymous said they had been struggling for water for more than five days and what was frustrating was that there was no explanation as to what was causing the problem.

“We tried calling the municipality, they are absolutely useless. We tried the ward councillors, they are also useless. They say it is not their problem.”

Another resident from Burbreeze was furious.

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“Our councillors are absolutely clueless as to why the water has been stopped for so long in this instance. We have been contacting councillors like on a wild goose chase, phoning A only to be directed to B and then to C.

“Officially the ward councillor of Bubreeze (Ward 62) is Zanele Khumalo. She does not answer our calls and when she finally did, the response was that she does not take responsibility for our area. She claims that she is not in charge of Burbreeze but only part of it,” said the resident.

She said one of the PR councillors, Yogis Govender, however, did assist with arranging for tankers.

“Unfortunately the tankers appear only every second or third day instead of daily.”

The Courier tried to contact ward councillors but they were not available for comment.

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