Had there been water available in his yard, a Grahamstown man who collapsed on his way home from fetching water on Sunday might still be alive.
Had there been water available in his yard, a Grahamstown man who collapsed on his way home from fetching water on Sunday might still be alive.
The man, who lived in Hlalani location, died on his way home from another area where he to fetch water, after he and his neighbours were left without water for the whole weekend. Shiella Makele told Grocott's Mail about her brother's death.
"There was no water at home, so on Sunday morning I was told that he had gone to fetch water with my younger brother at the coloured area. On his way back he felt dizzy and he fainted," said Makele
. "I suspect that he could not prepare food without water, that is why he went to fetch water." The area where the 34-year old man lived is far from where he went to fetch the water according to Makele, who said she was heartbroken.
"I don't know what to do. This is so hard. When I arrived he was lying there and the ambulance people were trying to revive him," she said.
Joza residents, meanwhile, have been furious at yet another water outage. One resident said, "Why did the municipality not tell us about the water outage? This happens every time and we are tired of it."
Ward 7 councillor Malibongwe Khubalo told Grocott's Mail that he went to where the man had collapsed, but said they were waiting for the post-mortem results before attributing a cause.
"That is why we suggested that the police must be informed so that we can know the cause of death. We cannot speculate," said Khubalo.
He said the paramedic in attendance had tried very hard to resuscitate the man.
"We have not visited the family formally as the municipality, but we spoke to the ward committee members so that we can go to that family. This doesn't mean the municipality has a budget to assist the family – we just want to encourage the community to know their neighbours and assist each other," Khubalo said yesterday.
Technical and Infrastructure services director Thembinkosi Myalato yesterday expressed his condolences.
