Skierklek’s 15-Year Water Crisis

ActionSA recently visited the residents of Skierlek in Ward 29, Doornkop, where the community has endured an ongoing water crisis for more than 15 years.

Residents currently receive water only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving households without reliable access to clean water for most of the week and forcing them to live under increasingly difficult conditions.

The continued failure by the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality to provide a consistent and reliable water supply is unacceptable. Access to clean water is a basic human right, yet the people of Skierlek have been forced to endure years of broken promises and inadequate service delivery while their concerns have gone unanswered.

Residents informed ActionSA that the ongoing water shortages have disrupted daily life, making it difficult for families to cook, clean, maintain proper sanitation, and meet their basic household needs. It is unacceptable that, after more than a decade of hardship, the community is still waiting for a permanent solution to a problem that should have been resolved years ago.

ActionSA calls on the municipality to urgently intervene and implement a lasting solution to this crisis. Should the municipality fail to act with the urgency this matter requires, ActionSA will have no choice but to escalate the matter to the South African Human Rights Commission for further intervention.

ActionSA Athol Trollip (National Chairperson) Eastern Cape Heavyweight: A former Federal Chairperson of the DA and the Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay (2016–2018). The Switch: Joined ActionSA in early 2022, bringing significant administrative experience and a strong support base in the Eastern Cape, specifically Gqeberha. The Role: He oversees the party’s national structures and is the key strategist for rural and metropolitan expansion.