Statement by Marina van Zyl MP – DA New Horizon Constituency Leader:
Residents of Ward 5 in Thembisa, Burgersdorp, have been without running water for more than seven consecutive days, despite water provision being a core municipal responsibility and a constitutional right. For families in this community, the consequences are severe and degrading.
Water tankers are wholly inadequate. They do not arrive daily and do not provide near enough water to meet basic household needs.
Elderly residents and children are forced to walk long distances in extreme December heat, carrying heavy buckets in the hope of collecting as little as five litres of water. At communal water points, desperation quickly turns into conflict as supplies run out. Many households cannot afford bottled water, leaving them with no safe alternative at all during peak summer temperatures.
The Democratic Alliance is deeply concerned that communities like Thembisa continue to suffer prolonged service delivery failures while municipal leadership fails to execute the most basic of functions. The result is a crisis that has become routine and normalised, and calls for remedial action is ignored.
The Joe Gqabi District Municipality is responsible for water provision, yet outages in Thembisa are frequent and often go unresolved. This points to serious failures in infrastructure maintenance and contingency planning. Emergency measures such as water tankers are clearly insufficient and cannot be turned into an ongoing substitute for a functioning water system.
I have written to the Municipal Manager demanding an urgent explanation for why residents of Thembisa are repeatedly left without water, and insisting on a permanent and reliable solution. At an absolute minimum, water must be restored to household taps on a predictable schedule, no less than every second day, while long-term infrastructure failures are addressed.
Access to water is fundamental to human dignity and health. No community should be expected to endure prolonged outages, especially over the Christmas period, when families should be focused on rest and care rather than survival.
The Democratic Alliance will continue to hold those responsible accountable until residents of Thembisa receive the reliable water supply they deserve. The people of the Eastern Cape deserve leadership that delivers basic services consistently and competently.
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