People Fight for Water as Infrastructure Crumbles

Throughout the uMzinyathi District Municipality, privately owned trucks sell drinking water to residents.

Near Sibongakonke Mdluli’s RDP house in Marikana, Dundee, a hole has been dug to reach the municipal water line, through which water runs only once a day and for short periods at a time. When the water comes on, residents shove and push each other to fill their containers from the broken pipe. Physical fights have broken out, says Mdluli.

Water supply here is the responsibility of the uMzinyathi District Municipality, which is failing its mandate to deliver water to several local municipalities in northern KwaZulu-Natal. More than a dozen water infrastructure projects have stalled, and the municipality has spent millions on companies contracted to supply water with trucks.

Mdluli has no piped water in her house. Rain tanks were installed in the area last year as a temporary measure, funded by donations from the ward councillor and residents. The tanks used to be filled daily by water trucks contracted by the Endumeni Local Municipality, but now most of them are empty.

“We’re lucky if the tank gets filled once a month,” said Mdluli. “They never last more than two hours; we’re constantly running around with containers looking for water.” Some of the rain tanks have been stolen.

Resident Thabisile Zungu said she used to have a flushing toilet inside, but has had to install a long-drop in an outhouse because there was never enough water to flush the toilet.

A group of small-scale farmers in the community has built a well on a hill, which provides a consistent supply of unfiltered water for their crops. Community members are also allowed to collect water from the pipe.

Ward councillor Mbulelo Phakathi says that boreholes are being drilled using funds from the ward allocation budget, and a R500,000 donation from a local firm, Glencoe Corobrik. The water will be pumped into a reservoir and then to households.

Infrastructure in the nearby Sibongile Township has largely collapsed. Residents told GroundUp that no water tankers are providing free municipal water. The only tankers are provided by private vendors selling water.

On the border of Sibongile township are the Dundee July horse racing fields, next to which is a communal water area with twelve taps. Only four are still connected to water, although the faucets are broken and there has been no water supply for several months. Young boys showed us how they had chipped away at a pipe to access some trickling water.

Thandeka Mnyandu has built an outhouse with a pit toilet because there is not enough water to use her flushing toilet.

Elsewhere in Sibongile, residents reported that water only runs for four hours per day, and sometimes once a week. And not all households get water. A new mosque in the community has assisted by installing communal taps from its own borehole.

Resident Thandeka Mnyandu said she and her neighbours collect water from a leaking pipe near her home. The taps in her home have been dry for seven years, she says.

About 50km from Dundee is Nquthu, where hundreds of people protested for water in June. After the protest, several villages had their water reconnected. But when GroundUp visited the area in August, many villages still had no access to water. Privately owned bakkies with large rain tanks strapped to the cargo bed drive around selling borehole water for R2 per 20 litres.

Residents of Gugulethu, an RDP housing development near Greytown in the Umvoti Local Municipality, have not had running water since 2021. “Some of us don’t have transport to fetch water, so we skip bathing or washing just to save drinking water,” said resident Jerome Mbokazi.

Ward councillor Lindokuhle Zondi said the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements (DOHS) is repairing the collapsing Greytown Reservoir. Underground water and sewerage infrastructure will also be renewed. Two boreholes have also been installed.

Small scale farmers near Dundee have diverted water from a well on a hill. Residents fill containers of untreated water from the pipe.

But resident Ruth Govender says some promises, such as fixing a broken valve and installing rain tanks, are yet to materialise.

Zondi said an R800,000 ward allocation budget from the District has also been allocated to help with water relief. “Currently, uMzinyathi has sent two communal Jojo [rain] tanks that will be added at Gugulethu because, in some cases, they were stolen,” said Zondi.

In the Msinga Local Municipality, residents protested for water in July. Resident Sabelo Ngubane told GroundUp that after the protest, water tankers came to the area for three days, but then stopped.

“Everybody brought huge containers, but it was not enough. We are still walking long distances seeking water, but the municipality blames us for the broken infrastructure,” said Ngubane.

In KiesDrift, also in Msinga, residents told GroundUp that the only water source for kilometres is a rain tank, supplied by a borehole, at Macingwane Secondary School.

Nondiso Mcunu, a grade 11 learner, said that she has to walk two kilometres from her home to fetch water from the school, sometimes making the journey up to four times a day.

A communal water point is no longer working. Four of the twelve original taps are still connected to water, but their faucets are broken and there has been no running water for months.

Stalled projects

A 2022 SAHRC inquiry confirmed ongoing water access issues in uMzinyathi, with the District failing to respond to recommendations. The SAHRC manager for KwaZulu-Natal, Pavershee Padayachee, told GroundUp that changes in municipal managers at uMzinyathi also contributed to the delays.

Over the last few years, the district has struggled to meet its water goals, often failing to reach its targets.

In the 2022/23 financial year, only five water projects were completed against a target of 24, and in 2023/24 four projects were completed against a reduced target of 12. Only 373 households were provided with water access within 200 meters of their homes, far below the target of 2,219.

More than a dozen water projects were stalled in 2023/24. The Ntinini Water Project in Nquthu, one of the largest by potential household reach, was suspended after going R3.3-million over budget. Thirteen projects in total were paused due to slow progress, with some contracts reissued or terminated.

The District also received adverse audit opinions in both 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Municipal communications manager Nkanyiso Cebekhulu confirmed that several water infrastructure projects were underway, but did not answer other questions from GroundUp.

Residents in Nquthu walk past a “water 4 sale” sign carrying buckets of water.

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