Water struggles continue amid Covid-19 lockdown
Ugu says it is doing "all that is humanly possible" to ensure residents have access to water.
Siya Cele and his family, who live in Umkholombe near Marburg, have had no water for two months.
And even worse, now they have to stay home during the lockdown with very little in the way of access to hygiene.
Siya said they were surviving on just 75 litres of water a week, which they had to travel some distance to collect.
He had, he said, made a tiny hole to collect water for the toilet.
“We can’t even bath, we can only use towels and wipe ourselves down. I’m so disappointed.”
Ugu spokesman, France Zama said there were no water supply issues at Umkholombe.
In fact, he said, all the water standpipe supply points in that area were being monitored regularly.
“The only area where we are experiencing water supply issues is in Hlanganani, adjacent to Umkholombe. They receive their supply directly from the Masinenge Reservoir where we had a pump failure last week and we are currently battling to get spares to repair the pump due to the lockdown.”
Mr Zama said they had scheduled relief supply to the Hlanganani area and the ward councillor was instrumental in making supply arrangements in the area through its water tankers.
“During these trying times we are doing all that is humanly possible to ensure that our residents have access to water because we are conscious of the impact that not having water will have on the fight against the spread of the Covid-19 virus, as water has been identified as an inherent preventive measure.”
Mr Zama added that the municipality had “stretched all available resources to respond to the ever-growing demand for water during this period”.
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