Human Rights Commission found significant backlogs in water supply at uMzinyathi District municipality, KwaZulu-Natal

Over a thousand homes in Gugulethu in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, depend on just six water tanks for all their needs - cooking, drinking, laundry and flushing toilets.

Recently, GroundUp was shown how only a few RDP houses handed over in 2019 have been connected to the municipal water supply. The rest depend on communal water tanks or fetch water from the few houses that are connected.

The uMzinyathi District Municipality, responsible for water, sends water trucks to refill the tanks, but residents say they still run out of water. We saw a group of learners returning with empty containers because there was no water in one communal tank.

Grade 8 learner Sphiliso Zondo said, "Sometimes we spend a day without water ...We use 20 litres to bath, cook, do laundry and flush toilets."

Sphiliso's mother, Nonto Ngcobo, said, "We save bathing and laundry water to flush toilets because the water in the tanks is not enough."

Brothers Jabu and Mabongi Dumakude both work on a nearby farm. After work they go looking for water for their household. They limit each person's share of water for washing to one litre per day, said Jabu.

Umzinyathi District Municipality's spokesperson Thandeka Ngobese said providing water to residents was a "top priority". She confirmed that municipal water supply is struggling to cope with the current demand. She said that part of Gugulethu's struggle for water was because the community was in an elevated area.

The municipality was working on refurbishing the community's borehole, she said.

Ward councillor Lindokuhle Zondi said two water tanks were donated by a local company and the local municipality had provided the rest.

In a 2023 report, the SA Human Rights Commission found that the municipality had significant backlogs in water supply. It made detailed recommendations for improvement and returned in June 2024 to monitor progress. But KwaZulu-Natal commission manger Pavershee Padayachee said a meeting with the council had been postponed.

"Members of the council had not been briefed and therefore requested that we schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss the Water Inquiry Commission," said Padayachee.