On Saturday 18 January, a vehicle went around the Transit Camp area with a loud hailer informing residents that their water problems would soon be over.
On Saturday 18 January, a vehicle went around the Transit Camp area with a loud hailer informing residents that their water problems would soon be over.
However, Transit Camp resident Funeka Stamper is not optimistic because she was not sure where the announcement was coming from.
It is difficult for Stamper to have much hope, as she and the seven family members that she shares a home with have never had running water in the house since moving in during 2005.
This is despite the fact that the RDP houses that they are living in should come with flushing toilets and running water.
Her toilet is also faulty, as whenever it is used it comes out of the outside pipes due to a faulty plumbing connection.
"We had to make our own toilet because there is no way that we can use the inside toilet," Stamper said.
Lindelwa Libi, whose inside toilet has also been blocked for months, worries for her family's health, due to the smell.
Libi's family have been living in the area since 2009, also without running water in their home.
Libi says very few people in the Transit Camp are able to use their flushing toilets because they are not connected to the reticulation system.
"People here use water buckets to flush their toilets, but when I tried to do the same thing with my toilet it blocked," said a dejected Libi.
The elderly resident says she finds herself in a situation where she constantly has to find ways to prevent the offensive odour coming from her blocked inside toilet.
"I use madubula (household disinfectant) to fight the smell, and I have to keep the windows open for most of the day to get rid of the smell," Libi said.
She already suspects that the unhygienic conditions may have already taken a toll on her health.
"I lost weight in December just before Christmas and I am afraid that we might be vulnerable to sickness as a result of living in this situation."
Libi's daughter passed away last year, with Libi taking full responsibility for two of her children, aged four and 17.
When Grocott's Mail bumped into Libi on Tuesday 21 January she was carrying a bucket of water and a five litre bottle, while both her grandchildren were at school.
Libi, like other residents, has resorted to asking local plumbers to help her sort out the mess in her toilet, because she believes that the root of the problem in her area is plumbing.
This has not yielded much succes.
She says even a tap that was mounted to the outside of her wall was taken off by a contractor.
Despite saying that he would return it, he has never brought it back.
In the meantime people like Libi and Stamper have to go to the closest communal tap to get water and find alternative ways of using the toilet.
"The municipality did ask what kind of temporary assistance we needed for the water problems before Christmas and we said we wanted Jojo tanks, but those have not come yet," Stamper said.
It did appear like something was being done when Grocott's Mail drove past Nontozanele Xashimba's home on Tuesday.
A big hole which was allegedly left by the municipality on Saturday was still cordoned off.
Xashimba said the hole was dug by Makana Municipality.
