DURBAN - OThongathi residents took to Facebook to complain about the distribution of water tankers and lack of early notice for the eThekwini Municipality’s planned water supply shutdown.
The shutdown was expected to affect oThongathi and surrounding areas last Saturday between 8am and 4pm for maintenance and repairs.
The building of capacity to reservoirs will take two to five days. The city is working towards residents getting full water supply after the completion of repairs.
The municipality said the shutdown was due to technical challenges at the Tongaat Hulett, which supplies Tongaat Water Treatment Works with electricity. For this reason, the Tongaat Water Treatment Works is unable to supply water normally to reservoirs.
The municipality said water tankers had been arranged to affected areas to provide water to communities but many residents went without water and were rescued by a generous donor.
Lebohang Lebzin Ntuli: “Water tankers are not being distributed fairly to all surrounding areas in Tongaat. We have not received any water tanker for the whole day.”
Said Delia Reddy: “Tankers keep passing us here on Belvedere Drive. Not one has stopped since this morning.”
Don Govender said: “Before the elections we saw so many people with claws out… passionate about helping the community. Today all I see is silence during a critical water issue… Where are you guys now? We want to hear you... Unless it was a thing for that moment portrayed as caring for the community”
Other residents said it was not a planned shutdown because they were not informed on time and the water was shut down on Friday in some parts of oThongathi and surrounding areas.
Responding to the municipality’s Facebook post which was made at 7.24pm on Friday night about the shutdown, residents said:
Tiara Moodley: “Absolute nonsense! You shut the water and then post this notice. How exactly is it a planned shutdown? People weren't able to collect any water. Yet in other areas ample notice was given”
Prashika Dusrath: “Just be honest with the people of the eThekwini Municipality. There is nothing planned about this shutdown. This water crisis has been going on for years. Always one excuse after another. We don’t see anything being done to fix the root of the problem. So don’t come here and post fake statements on planned shutdowns. If this was planned we would have some notice. Not even our ward councillors knew about your apparent planned shutdown. So how does that work now?”
Pravi Nair: “Planned, if this was planned surely people would have been notified. This is ongoing in Tongaat and it's really sad when nothing concrete is being done to eliminate the water issues we are facing.”
Nicole Munusamy: “The notice states Saturday 8am… did I skip time as our water stopped around 6pm”.
Daily News