Residents of ward 47 draw water from a water tanker three days after taps ran dry in wards 45, 46 and 47 in KwaNobuhle. Photo: Thamsanqa Mbovane
25 November 2019
Hundreds of residents in KwaNobuhle, Uitenhage, flocked to water tankers on Sunday afternoon. The taps of over 25,000 residents had run dry on Friday morning.
Four 30,000-litre water tankers were dispatched to wards 45, 46 and 47. Tankers were emptied within an hour by people queueing for water, according to a driver.
Patrick Nderemani, one of the tanker drivers, said he started driving at 7am on Sunday. He said some residents were angry when the tanker emptied and he had to explain to them he was going to fetch more water. “This is the fourth time I bring water to this area [ward 47]”, he said.
Some residents, with bottles and buckets and pushing wheelbarrows, went to beg for water at nearby Peace Village and Joe Modise, which have a reservoir.
Resident Nokulunga Mabula, who has twin boys, said, “Children are dehydrated. Toilets are blocking and they stink. We can’t cook or wash for three days. All we have to do is to draw water from tankers stationed in street corners and the whole arrangement is tiring.”
Her neighbour, Leornard Nyati, said, “We did not panic on Friday. We assumed that water would be restored within a few hours. But now this is totally unbearable.”
Ward 45 Councillor Siphiwo Plaatatjies (ANC) posted on Facebook, late on Sunday, that: “Kwabobuhle area has experienced frequent burst on the main line which supplies the reservoir … While plumbers have been working tirelessly to fix the burst on the main line, new burst followed on the same main line. This forced standby plumbers to shut the valves in order to fix the burst and this affected wards 45, 46 and 47.”
Mayoral spokesperson George Geleba said residents must call 0800 20 5050 to advise if there are still areas not covered by the water tankers.
On Monday morning water was still not restored in any of the three wards. Geleba said, “I cannot confirm when will water be restored at the moment.”