Residents accuse Lekwa Municipality of betrayal over lack of basic services
The community also claim the escalating crime at night in their area is concerning because under the cover of darkness, criminals burgle houses, people get attacked and robbed, and women and children are being raped.
Residents of the Dlamini and Enkanini informal settlements near Rooikoppen in Sakhile feel betrayed by the Lekwa Municipality after waiting 17 years for basic services that were promised when they were allocated land.
According to these residents, the municipality allocated residential sites with the assurance that the area would be formalised and provided with essential services such as running water, sanitation and electricity. However, they say those promises remain unfulfilled.
Residents claim the municipality installed water tanks in the settlements, but they are frequently left empty.
When the tanks are eventually filled, the water runs out within a few hours, leaving the community without water for extended periods.
The lack of sanitation has also forced residents to use nearby bushes as toilets, exposing women and children to serious safety risks.
Resident Sibongile Maseko described their living conditions as inhumane, saying the municipality has neglected the community despite allocating them the land.
“Our municipality doesn’t care about us. We rarely get water and we don’t have toilets. It is difficult because we have to go to the bushes to relieve ourselves.”
Maseko said there have been incidents where women and children who were using the bushes were raped.
“When you need to use the toilet, it doesn’t matter whether it is in the middle of the night—you have to go, and that is when we face these dangers,” explained Maseko.
Another resident, Thuli Mokoena, said they were informed in 2010 that the settlement would be formalised and supplied with the necessary services, but nothing has materialised.
“As the November 4 local government elections approach, many political parties will come here and make promises, just as they did before the 2021 elections. After the elections, they disappear.
“We no longer want promises—we want action!” exclaimed Mokoena.
“We are tired of risking our lives by going into the bushes because there are no toilets, no running water and no proper sanitation.
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“We are tired of being treated as though we invaded this land when we were allocated these sites by the municipality itself,” said Mokoena.
Mokoena said some residents have begun to steal electricity through illegal connections because they feel betrayed by the Municipality.
Residents are calling on the Lekwa Municipality to urgently provide reliable water, sanitation and electricity infrastructure, saying access to basic services is a fundamental human right.
The community also claim the escalating crime at night in their area is concerning because under the cover of darkness, criminals burgle houses, people get attacked and robbed, and women and children are being raped.
They are appealing to the municipality to install high mass light for their safety. The DA also expresses its deep concern over the ongoing crisis facing the residents of Dlamini Village in Sakhile, where communities continue to live without reliable access to water and basic sanitation.
The party’s national spokesperson on Women, Youth and People with Disabilities, Angel Khanyile said it is unacceptable that, more than three decades into South Africa’s democracy, families are still forced to survive without one of the most basic constitutional rights: access to clean water.
“Equally disturbing is the fact that many residents are left with no choice but to relieve themselves in nearby bushes because of the absence of adequate sanitation facilities.
“This is not merely a service delivery failure; it is a direct assault on the dignity, health and safety of the people of Dlamini Village. If the rape allegations are confirmed, they expose the devastating consequences of the government’s continued failure to provide basic services.
“No woman or child should ever have to risk sexual violence simply to meet a basic human need,” said Khanyile.
Khanyile said they have formally requested the municipality to urgently intervene and restore a reliable water supply to the community.
She also called on the municipality to provide immediate temporary sanitation solutions, including shared VIP toilets where necessary, while permanent infrastructure is developed. The municipality’s communication manager, Lubabalo Majenge, refuted claims by the residents that they were allocated land.
“The municipality has no records of the allocation of sites in the mentioned areas, and therefore no one was allocated to this site.”
The municipality, with the assistance of the National Department of Human Settlements, is still in the process of formalising this property for township development,” said Majenge.
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