Joza residents are threatening mass action if the Makana council does not explain the causes of the frequent water outages that are plaguing the area.
Joza residents are threatening mass action if the Makana council does not explain the causes of the frequent water outages that are plaguing the area.
Residents of Daniel Street unanimously demanded at a meeting on Thursday that Makana Mayor Vumile Lwana and Ward 7 councillor Nomhle Gaga urgently address them about the causes of the frequent water outages througout October and September. The residents complained that since the disruptions to their water supply nobody from the council has come forward to tell them why it happened or when their water will be restored.
Noma-Africa Ketani said they rely on the fire department’s water tanker which distributes water to the residents. "Yesterday we called the tanker but it didn’t come to our street as promised, instead it came as close as Joza Street," she added.
The residents accused the municipality of not having qualified engineers to conduct proper maintenance of the pipes and valves. They argued that contrary to promises by the municipality during last week’s Budget and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) imbizo at Noluthando Hall, their water supply was not restored by Monday.
They added that there is no water during the day and that they sometimes notice water trickling out of their taps in the small hours of the morning only to find the taps dry when they wake up at 6am. "The area covering Goba, Joza, Daniel and Ncame Streets is completely dry," said one resident.
Another resident took a swipe at the municipality for publishing a notice about water restrictions when their area did not have any water. "We’re not impressed by the restrictions because they don’t care about us who are left in the dry as evident in the tendency of the tanker’s driver bringing us dirty water," she said.
Elderly resident David Bokoyi, who is also suffers from asthma, said he is forced to buy spring water as he has to take his medication. "When the white government was in power nothing of this sort happenned," he lamented.
Some residents asked why did the current government build them flushing toilets and then not supply them with water so that they can utilise the facilities?
