Vandals ruin water supply for Eastern Cape village

This is one of two reservoirs meant to supply Dikeni near Cofimvaba. It was part of a R6-million village water scheme, but stands empty because the pipeline to it is continuously vandalised. Photo: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

Hundreds of households in Dikeni near Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape depend on one 10,000-litre water reservoir.

Resident Asanda Bulala, who works as the water operator, says he releases the water at 5am. The water lasts between 30 minutes and 2 hours a day.

It is one of two reservoirs supposed to supply the area. The 10,000-litre reservoir receives water from a natural spring, while a second, larger reservoir linked to the Ncorha water pipeline stands empty.

The dire water situation arises because a village water scheme has failed due to vandalism, and a borehole drilled during the covid pandemic has never been connected.

Resident Siphosenkosi Mqolo said, “During election campaigns, officials will come and promise us that the project will be fixed.”

“The ANC government in this province is failing our grandparents who love it so much. I just spent R1,600 buying water for my grandmother, and that is not fair.”

Chris Hani District municipality spokesperson Thobeka Mqamelo said R6-million was spent on the village water scheme in 2014, which was joined to the much bigger Ncorha Water Treatment plant scheme. But the Ncorha pipeline to the village has been prone to serious vandalism. Meanwhile, the unconnected borehole has also been vandalised.

Mqamelo said repairs have to be done continuously, and it involves patrolling many kilometres of pipeline by maintenance teams.

“I’m not lying when I say this [R6-million village] water scheme only worked for a few days, then the taps went dry,” said Bulala. “The water didn’t even last a month, and yet millions were spent on it.”

He also said the “borehole was left unattended for a very long time before it got vandalised.

Mqamelo said the municipality is still sourcing funds for connecting the borehole, which was drilled as a future emergency supply for the village.

The municipality will connect the larger reservoir to the spring as well while the pipeline is repaired and the borehole is connected.

“Vandalism has reversed the gains that the municipality has made in the area. In addition to the damaged [water] chambers and [Ncorha] pipeline, most taps have also been vandalised, too,” she said.

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