Africa-Press – South-Africa. I can’t supply the whole village with water! I am not the government!” says Patrick Yayi, of Chris Hani village in KwaNobuhle, Kariega.
“At night, I hear people intruding into my yard and going straight to my tap. When I wake up and shout at them, they hurl insults at me – all kinds of insults.”
His RDP house is one of four houses, out of about 1 000 houses, that still have running water in Chris Hani village, GroundUp reports.
Taps have been dry for two months.
There are about 5 000 residents and they rely on just one 5 000-litre Jojo tank in Saxhwila, opposite the four RDP houses that have water. When the tank runs dry, people turn to the home owners.
“People came in big numbers to draw water from my yard … People carry 25-litre empty drums, push wheelbarrows, come by cars, jostling for space to draw water from my yard, against my will,” he said.
He said the last municipal bill he received was in April and it was about R13 000. (We were unable to verify this.)
His neighbour, Neliswa Mnikina, said:
Ward 46’s councillor, Ntobeko Nqakula, conceded that Chris Hani was one of the worst areas hit by the Nelson Mandela Bay water crisis.
“Unfortunately, there are only a few [water] trucks in the city. It’s now been over 50 days that Chris Hani has had no water in taps.”
Nqakula explained that there were originally two Jojo tanks in the area, but one was damaged when people tried to steal it, so it had to be removed.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
