Ikageng residents tired of pushing wheelbarrows to fetch water all-day

Ikageng residents in Mamelodi East are tired of pushing wheelbarrows all day to fetch water.

This came after the announcement that the issue of dry taps in their area is continuing.

The residents claimed the issue has been ongoing for almost three years and all they get is empty promises from Tshwane Metro and the government.

Community member Billy Monama said: “We want the problem of water shortage fixed permanently.

“We are tired of pushing wheelbarrows all day to fetch water from water trucks.

“We are ratepayers, so we don’t deserve to walk such long distances for water, while a nearby informal settlement has water, and they don’t pay for services.”

“Ikageng ext. 3 used to be one of the places in Mamelodi where you find beautiful and expensive houses, but today all of it’s gone,” said Monama.

“Our houses have lost value because the area has no water and only has dry taps.

“Who would like to stay in or buy a house with dry water taps?” he asked.

The residents said it all started in 2020 with low water pressure, but today their taps are permanently dry.

Earlier this year, the Tshwane metro announced it had approached the court to evict land invaders who connected water illegally to their neighbouring reservoir in Mamelodi.

Monama also said the metro had since promised to fix the issue while their local councillor escalated the matter to the provincial level.

Residents complained they were expected to pay for services they didn’t even get.

Steve Sithole, another community member, said it was a shame that the metro couldn’t provide such a basic service every human being was entitled to.

Sithole said water was life, so if one couldn’t fill up their buckets from the tankers, you had to buy water for cooking and bathing.

“We desperately need water, because we have pensioners who have to take their chronic medication,” he said.

“No one is informing us about the water issue and our ward councillor is nowhere to be found – no public meeting at least to explain how the problem is being fixed.”

Other residents complained that for over three years, their water had been cut off and that instead of the issue being attended to, they were offered water trucks.

Jacky Mathebula said the water shortage issue has affected people’s daily lives to such an extreme extent that they aren’t even able to use their toilets.

“We are constantly sick from not being able to wash our hands, food and clean our spaces,” Mathebula said.

The community also suffers from long power cuts, with no help from its political leaders.

“We pay for services we do not receive and our lives are in danger for any word spoken around these basic right infringements,” said Mathebula.

“We have held meetings and elected community committees to resolve these issues, but it all dies down due to victimisation, thus people pull back and participate no more in fear of their lives.

“It has been happening for over three years and we are scared and tired of having to find water for our survival and electricity for our convenience.”

Spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the Tshwane metro has approached the courts to begin the process of evicting illegal land invaders near the Mamelodi reservoir.

He said because the current occupation took place recently, the City did not recognise the area as an informal settlement.

This follows continuous complaints of water shortages in Ikageng ext. 3 phase 4.

The water shortages have also affected Emasangweni Primary School, which has led to fed-up parents shutting it down two days before the recent school holidays.

The metro has since allocated two water tankers to provide the school with water.

Mashigo said the metro’s human settlements department had relocated all the people squatting in the area in 2013.

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