Taps are running dry in the Uthukela District Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal. This has left people of Ladysmith and nearby areas to go without water after the municipality started implementing water restrictions.
Councilor in the Alfred Duma Local Municipality, Abbas Warasally, says the district has been battling with service infrastructure leading to breakages and raw sewerage polluting streams.
“If you look at the dam levels most of our dams are over half so it shouldn’t be a drought situation. The problem is that there at Uthukela district municipality under the ANC that are failing.
“Presently Uthukela district municipality is under administration they do not have money to repair the pumps, they do not have money to pay Eskom for the power supply. Also you find most areas within the district are sewerage logged where most of the sewerage lines are blocked you got the sewerage lines pumping directly into the Klip River into the Thugela River and it’s a big mess up and Uthukela cannot do anything about it this problem has been going on the Uthukela district for over three years,” Warasally explained.
