Single Mom Has to Walk 5KM to Buy Drinking Water

Serge Simbini from Willow Farm in Pretoria walks five kilometres to buy water from a household with a tap.

Serge Simbini has to walk five kilometres from Willow Farm in Mamelodi, Pretoria, to Nellmapius to buy water from a household with a tap. He pays R5 for 20 litres. He uses the water to cook, drink and wash. For washing clothes, he fetches dirty water from the Jukskei River.

“The municipality gave us one water tank, put it on an open field in front of our homes, and delivered water into it once a week. The tank was stolen early this year,” said Puseletso Maimela, an unemployed, single mother of three.

She also buys water from a household in Nellmapius, using her children’s social grant. “The amount of water I can afford to buy is not enough for all our needs,” she says.

GroundUp visited Willow Farm on 16 January. The streets are too narrow for cars. There is no formal water or electricity supply. There are no toilets and families use an open field. The municipality had promised them chemical toilets, residents told GroundUp.

A resident, who asked not to be named, said he and a group of more than 20 illegally connected their homes to water and electricity in 2022. But the water supply broke down a year ago. The electricity was working but was “unreliable”, he said.

“Some electric wires and poles fall onto the street. People who have installed these live electric wires and poles do not fix them. Many people live in fear of being shocked.”

The area is on a flood line and some residents, like Isaac Mogola, lost their shacks in floods in October 2019. Mogola rebuilt on the same spot. “There is no other land where I could build,” he said.

Mogola said the municipality had promised to relocate the Willow Farm residents and had moved some. “But we are still here,” he said.

Residents of other flood-prone areas in Mamelodi were relocated to Nellmapius in August 2024, prompting protests by Willow Farm residents and people living in formal houses nearby. At the time, City of Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the flood victims would be moved permanently to Pienaarspoort, starting last November.

In September 2023, Mashigo told GroundUp that R369-million had been set aside for servicing and relocating informal settlements, particularly flood-prone ones.

GroundUp sent questions about Willow Farm to Mashigo last week. The media team acknowledged receipt and promised to respond. GroundUp has still not received a response.

Families use the bushes as a toilet.

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