Fed up residents are saying enough is enough in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape. They want their municipality placed under administration. Water scarcity is one of the main issues.
In 2015 the Makana Municipality hired Amatola Water to providing sanitation and water.
This included managing ageing infrastructure. Two years later Amatola Water withdrew its services due to a R40 million unpaid debt.
Residents in Makana Municipality are asking for the council to be dissolved .They say Makana Municipality council has failed to meet its Executive obligations,they are unable or unwilling to exercise the municipalities executive and legislative authority. #sabcEC pic.twitter.com/nMrXsohoz1
— Lerato Fekisi (@LThipa) November 6, 2018
Bongani Selu has lived here most of his life. The water here is disconnected at night to allow the reservoirs to fill. He says that he cannot remember a day when they had running water for 24 hours.
“We don’t drink the water that comes from the tap, because as you can see its brown and very murky, we only use it to bath. It tastes really bad so we rather buy water from the local spaza, but even that is expensive, because not many families can afford that. So they are forced to drink it which makes the kids sick.”
Sewage spills make living here a nightmare.
Lizziwe Lukwe, Makhanda East Resident: “I’m really sickly, and even when this water entered my home I was already sick and it made it worse. I have extreme backaches, kidney problems and other ailments and this water makes it worse, but I endure it, I have no choice.”
The petition has been handed over and received by to the speaker of the Makanda Council. #sabcEC pic.twitter.com/LoWuDiRyUz
— Lerato Fekisi (@LThipa) November 6, 2018
Authorities are aware of the problems.
Mayor Nomhle Gaga: “What we did as a municipality was that we did audits of electricity, water and sewer and roads and we have got business plans, which we are using to source funding and using those business plans. So as Makana municipality, specifically for water we have got future plans whereby we have already started upgrading the James Kleynhans water treatment works, cause with that if we have upgraded it, everybody in Makhanda even in the townships and town area will get water from there.”
Watch as Makhanda residents lament lack of service delivery below:
