….as water comes on stream
HARRISMITH – Days of walking long distances in order to fetch water are over for residents after the Maluti a Phofung municipality spent R65 000 on eight water pumps at Intabazwe.
Intabazwe is one of the informal settlements rocked by continuous protests against poor service delivery in the past months although the water project has somewhat appeased residents who still ramp up demands for electricity and housing.
A delegation including councillors Thembinkosi Josia Mahlambi of ward four, Mokete Komako and Moratwe Mokoena from Mayarol Committee MMC on Wednesday, October 24 checked if the water pumps were functioning before they could be handed to the community.
In an interview with Public Eye one of the residents at Intabazwe Celine Tshabalala said she was happy with what the government has done.
“Days of walking long distances in order to fetch water are over. The person who must be happier is my son who was responsible for fetching water as I could no longer manage due to poor health and old age. But I wish they could also come back and build us electrified houses and toilets,” said Tshabalala who has been living in a one roomed mud house for 12 years, after she left Warden Farm.
Tshabalala said the toilet was a mess and reeked because it has not been properly built.
Echoing similar complaints one of the informal settlement’s residents Metals Meea said challenges they are facing in this area are horrible.
“When it rains the water seeps into our houses. I wish the government would come sooner to build us proper houses.”
But Mokoena said his council was not going to electrify the area or build houses because geological surveys had indicated that the area was unsuitable for home construction.
However he said they had decided to build temporary water pumps to bring water to the community while preparing to relocate the residents to another area. “We have already secured 650 sites where these people will be moved to once we have received funding we will develop that then these people can be transferred, “he said.
Councillor Mohlambi said there are 9 000 people staying in 350 shacks. “The over population in these shacks is caused by some people who are not South Africans. We learnt this when we were doing door to door check-ups. Some people have a lot of children hence the overcrowding,” he said.