The South African municipality where many residents have not had water for 13 years

“We are elderly and are in constant pain from carrying buckets of water daily.” “The children living in these areas do not know what running water is.”

“The water we get from the trucks is dirty and undrinkable.” “It is like we are not seen as humans.”

These were the desperate words of some of the residents of the Lekwa Local Municipality in Mpumalanga, which has a population of around 120,000.

For over a decade, many in Ward 5, including the Palama, Extension 2, KaMqhewane, and Mapheshini sections, along with residents of Extension 8 in Ward 9 and Rooikoppen in Ward 11, have struggled to access clean water.

BusinessTech recently reported that taps in these areas ran dry in 2012 despite the presence of infrastructure like pipes and taps. Before this, there were frequent disruptions to the water supply.

The situation has worsened, leaving residents to rely on water tankers. However, these trucks are infrequent and often missing for weeks at a time. Residents wait by the roadside, hoping for the next delivery.

“There was a budget allocated for us, but now there’s no water. So where did the money go?” questioned one elderly woman.

Many shared similar frustrations, noting that the elderly are often too far away to reach the water trucks.

“The trucks are often too far from where we live. When the water truck arrives, the grandmothers are already there, waiting,” one woman explained.

The elderly often pay young men R50 from their social grants to help carry the heavy buckets of water home.

“We don’t even have that money,” said one resident. The quality is inadequate for those who manage to get water. “We are drinking dirty, muddy water that you can’t even drink,” one woman lamented.

“The water stinks, and we are getting sick. The doctor says it is because of the water, and we need to stop drinking it,” another resident shared.

The water is often yellowish-brown, and residents are warned over loudspeakers to boil the water before consumption.

Local officials have made promises over the years, but the situation has not improved. “The mayor always comes and promises, but we never get clean water,” another resident said.

“It feels like we are not seen as humans. They give us the budget, but we never see any of it. Nothing changes,” she added.

According to the most recent Department of Water and Sanitation’s Blue Drop Report, which assesses drinking water quality and service provision, Lekwa scored just 33.53%, which is considered poor.

Furthermore, the municipality received a 0% score in the No Drop Score, indicating it failed to meet regulatory requirements.

Residents continue to plead for help, with one saying, “Until now, we’ve never received clean water. Can you please help us? We asked for help, but they don’t hear us anymore. That’s why we are asking for help today.”

Lekwa’s service delivery woes

The woes of Lekwa Local Municipality have been well-recorded, particularly pertaining to water provision.

For example, in 2019, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) embarked on an investigative inquiry into the state of service delivery within municipalities, including Lekwa.

Presenting the findings against Lekwa Local Municipality and the implementation of recommendations thereof, Commissioner Philile Ntuli said in 2024 that not much has improved since.

“Lack of access to water is a challenge in the Lekwa Local Municipality. The commission continues to receive complaints even after the inquiry on prolonged water outages in Ward 5, Extension 2 and Ward 13, where residents are not provided with water,” said Ntuli.

“The continued lack of access to water, therefore, violates the residents’ rights in terms of section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution,” she added.

In 2023, the Lekwa municipality was found guilty and fined R70 million for water pollution and failing to submit plans to fix its water problems.

The court ordered that the money should be used to effect “urgent and necessary” repairs of all affected equipment, said National Prosecuting Authority’s regional spokesperson Monica Nyuswa.

“It further ordered that proof of expenditure and repairs must be submitted.”

Recently, the Democratic Alliance (DA) filed a complaint with the SAHRC about this prolonged water outage.

“The DA has raised this matter in Parliament, and demanded action from Deputy Minister Mahlobo, but to date he has been silent on feedback,” said MP Angel Khanyile.

“The DA is of the view that the disregard of this request is deliberate, as looting of municipal resources continues through the use of water tanker contracts – a water tanker mafia is growing across South Africa,” she added.

Municipality responds

In its most recent annual report, the municipality acknowledged its water problems and blamed the crisis on a lack of funds, infrastructure maintenance, skills, and slow progress in planned refurbishments.

The municipality noted that the shortfall in water provision is attributed to years of neglect and inadequate maintenance of water infrastructure dating back to the 1970s.

Additionally, the municipality estimated that approximately R1.5 billion is required for a comprehensive overhaul of the water infrastructure.

“Lekwa Local Municipality is faced with the challenge of supplying a consistent water supply to the community,” the municipality told BusinessTech.

“The water demand exceeds the water supply capacity, and the Sakhile extension 2 is situated in the high lying area of the Municipality, is highly affected by these challenges,” they added.

They said that Sakhile extension 2 is in ward 5 and there is a dedicated water truck for this ward. “The water quality is of good quality,” claimed the municipality.

In terms of plans in place to restore the water supply and its progress, the municipality said that “Sasol Mining has appointed the consultant to undertake designs for the installation of booster pumping units and elevated tank.”

“The Contractor will then be appointed for the implementation of the project… to improve water supply to Sakhile extension 2,” they added.

“The municipality has developed the feasibility study to source funding for the upgrade of bulk water Infrastructure to minimise water supply challenges in the municipality, which are mainly caused by the capacity constraint of the bulk water infrastructure.”

“Lekwa Local Municipality is committed to providing quality water supply to all its residents and does everything in its power to do so,” they added.