Residents in some parts of Buffalo City Metro have been grappling with recurrent water outages for far too long.
By Thursday, Mdantsane’s NU17 residents had endured five days without water, while those in Reeston had struggled with water issues for three days.
Residents in Ncera and Kayser’s Beach say their water outages are rotational, and that the pressure is low.
Furthermore, Kayser’s Beach residents say they only get water at night.
In March, the Dispatch reported that Ducats residents resorted to blocking the N6 after they did not have water for two months.
Even Bhisho, the centre of the provincial government, has not been spared, compromising state operations.
Temporary measures to alleviate the situation also seem to have fallen short.
Residents have complained that tankers sometimes supply them with smelly, dirty water, while in some places the tankers don’t turn up for days.
Sadly, this time around, the challenges surrounding water access and quality in our metro are not a consequence of natural resource limitations.
Neither are they due to BCM’s well documented ailing infrastructure problems.
Instead, fingers are pointing at a conflict between the Amatola Water Board and labour union Samwu.
It is a human crisis which is a reflection of poor leadership from both sides of the divide.
What everyone involved in this stalemate seems to conveniently ignore is that provision of water is a basic right and must be treated as such.
What started as a fallout between acting chief executive Lindokuhle Nzoyi and Samwu Amathole regional secretary Luthando Juju has spiralled to include the suspension of shop stewards and workers downing tools.
And true to the adage, when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
The impasse has resulted in enormous water supply disruptions. And by the end of last week, neither side was willing to budge.
Samwu has thrown down the gauntlet: “We can categorically state that Amatola Water labour challenges will never be resolved by any court interdict or by suspending all 10 of our shop stewards.”
What everyone involved in this stalemate seems to conveniently ignore is that water is a basic right and must be treated as such.
Water disruptions have dire health and livelihood implications, and increase the risk of cholera and dysentery outbreaks, which will add to the burden on an already struggling healthcare system.
Businesses that depend heavily on water are losing out in production and the potential losses could lead to retrenchments, adding to the already dire unemployment rate.
We appeal to Amatola Water and Samwu to look at the bigger picture and resolve their differences as a matter of urgency.
Provincial and national government departments should also intensify their interventions.
Residents need a steady and clean water supply, and they need that now.
Daily Dispatch
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