Dry taps force Eastern Cape villagers to drink river water

Residents of a sprawling Eastern Cape village of more than 2,000 people say they are being forced to drink algae-tainted river water or dig for water in dongas, putting their health at risk.

Two pumps supplying water to their homes stopped working in March and a third was stolen in June, leaving them without a regular supply of potable water for months.

Residents of Mkhonjane village, between Komani and Cofimvaba, said their complaints to the authorities had fallen on deaf ears.

Young children were developing skin rashes and many villagers were suffering from stomach ailments caused by drinking dirty water.

Eric Harmans said they had been forced to get water from the nearby Cacadu River, but it was greenish in colour and not fit for human consumption.

“Our village is very big, with thousands of people,” he said.

“Our taps have been dry for months now because even when the pumps were still working, they were not serviced.

“The government invested millions of rand into building a dam to supply the people of Mkhonjane with clean drinkable water in 2016.

“Now we have been in and out of the offices of the Chris Hani District Municipality raising our plight, but it seems they do not really care because all they do is promise to send people to come and check what the problem is [with the water pumps] but until today, we have been waiting and waiting.”

Harmans said district officials had recently informed the villagers that the municipality had bought a new electric water pump which would be installed before the end of October.

“We were promised we would have clean water coming out of our dry taps before the end of the last month. That was the last time we ever saw or heard from them,” he said.

He said villagers had been paying R100 to buy water from locals who used donkeys to cart it from the river.

However, it was dirty and smelly and had a bitter taste. Some people dumped dead animals and used nappies in the river.

“We do not have anyone to turn to now. They [authorities] just do not care.

“But we are scared we might end up contracting serious diseases if this is not fixed soon.”

The village’s headman, Khawulele Sonamzi, said they had urged officials to organise water tanks for the community but were told that the district authority had budget challenges.

Though the municipality sometimes carted water to the area by tanker, it did not reach everyone in the village.

Sonamzi warned that the villagers would not show up at polling stations for the 2026 local government elections if the water problem was not addressed.

Villager Anita Sonamzi said the trip to fetch water from the river was fraught with danger. They had to pass through a forest, and the path was extremely slippery.

The village also had a high crime rate. Women had to go in groups to fetch water, and the trip took more than three hours.

Chris Hani District Municipality spokesperson Thobeka Mqamelo said it was battling unprecedented levels of theft and vandalism of its infrastructure, piling pressure on already stressed operations and limited financial resources.

She said the village was supplied by three boreholes (Qineni, Nkalweni and Sigxeni) and water was pumped to the regional Mkhonjane water scheme.

“Nkalweni has a faulty generator which is currently under repairs. Sigxeni was vandalised and a generator was stolen. Only one borehole (Qineni) is functional at the present moment,” she said.

The high incidence of theft and vandalism was depleting the municipality’s coffers, forcing officials to consider converting its diesel generator pumps so they could be powered by electricity from the grid.

However, the project was being rolled out in phases, with applications having to be done through Eskom, and the Mkhonjane scheme had not yet been connected.

Mqamelo said the municipality did cart water to the village using tankers, but this was not a satisfactory solution because of the extensive area that needed to be covered.

Daily Dispatch