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Just minutes after casting their votes, Nqadu villagers Nofundile Nontshizela, 60, and Nokhwezi Nqwiliso, 56, are seen collecting water from a stream also used by animals. Both women have been voting since 1994, but decades later, access to clean and reliable water remains a struggle. Picture: SINO MAJANGAZA
Just minutes after casting their votes, Nqadu villagers Nofundile Nontshizela, 60, and Nokhwezi Nqwiliso, 56, are seen collecting water from a stream also used by animals. Both women have been voting since 1994, but decades later, access to clean and reliable water remains a struggle. Picture: SINO MAJANGAZA

Empty taps force rural voters to share drinking water with livestock

After voting, it's back to collecting water in Nqadu area

Decades of democratic participation bring little relief as communal taps run dry across Mbhashe villages

  • Mandilakhe Kwababana
  • Sino Majangaza
4 min read
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Moments after casting their ballots at sunrise in the Eastern Cape, elderly residents in Nqadu returned to the grim, decades-old routine of fetching muddy drinking water from streams shared with livestock. Despite dry communal taps and persistent service delivery failures, villagers turned out to vote with fading hope of seeing meaningful change.

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