Scores of people queued at emergency fire taps in Atteridgeville on Wednesday morning after their taps ran dry.
The streets of Atteridgeville were full of men and women with buckets, clean rubbish bins, some carrying them on top of their heads and others pushing them with wheel barrows.
Rekord visited more than 10 different fire emergency taps, and there were scores of people in long queues.
“It’s like we are living in villages where we have to go and fetch water every morning in the river. We have families who must eat and without water life cannot go on,” said disgruntled resident Thomas Sekgabi.
He said the metro promised water supply would be restored by Tuesday evening but that this had not happened.
“It has been two days without water and we have to drive throughout the township looking for places to get water. Sooner or later people are going to get fed up and will start protesting.”
Another resident, Salamina Mashiane, said people could not flush their toilets.
“We can’t flush our toilets and there is makaka everywhere (faeces), giving the house a very bad smell. How long must this go on?” she asked.
Mashinane said she had a new-born baby, who needed freshly-made formula food everyday.
“New-born babies are very sensitive to germs, and they must be fed regularly. Without water, one cannot do that.”
Most parts of Atteridgeville did not have water by 11am. The few lucky house owners with water cashed in on the misery of others.
In a house in Semenya Street residents paid R5 to fill their buckets with water.
“The owner of the house demands R5 to fill our buckets with water which is reasonable because he also has to pay municipal rates at the end of the month,” said resident Dimakatso Ndlovu.
She said she had no other option.
“There is nothing I can do. I need to bath regularly, so I have to pay this R5 to get water, ” said Ndlovu.
Early on Wednesday morning, a Tshwane fire brigade water tanker was seen driving around the township assisting people with water.
Tshwane Emergency spokesman Johan Pieterse said: “I do not know if there is a water problem, but if the water tanker was seen in the township it was probably assisting people with water.”
Vandalism and cable theft at Palmiet pump station have resulted in Rand Water being unable to supply water to the most of Tshwane this week, resulting in widespread shortages.
Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said on Wednesday the affected reservoirs were in Erasmia, Atteridgeville, Akasia, Lotus Gardens, Soshanguve, Mabopane, and Ga-Rankuwa.
“The situation should return to normal late at night as it is taking long to feed the entire Gauteng system which supplies water to the City of Johannesburg, the City of Ekurhuleni and the City of Tshwane,” said Mashigo.
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