Umzinyathi District Municipality has dismissed claims that water has been ‘politicised’ resulting in a refusal to send water tankers to the ward 3 area at Sithembile, Glencoe.

It was claimed that the District Municipality deliberately ignored requests for water to be delivered because the ward was won last year by the IFP who unseated the ANC’s candidate.

However, Nomonde Nzimakwe, communications manager at Umzinyathi, said this was ‘all new and certainly false’.
“The area of Sithembile known as Marikana has six Jojo tanks that were put up with the assistance of the ward councillor. The Jojo tanks were filled twice a week before the water tanker reduction (introduced throughout the district) that started on January 1, and now we fill them once a week,” she told the Courier.

“The last time the tanks were filled was on January 27 at around 2pm. We are working hand in hand with the ward councillor and ward committee members, so if at any case the water runs out before our next run, the community should alert the councillor, who will then inform us to refill.
“We are currently working on assessing all the streets who are affected on our water system. Umzinyathi District Municipality is still committed in providing safe and easily accessible water for all.”