NYUSWA RESIDENTS “WE SHARE DRINKING WATER WITH ANIMALS”

Residents of Nyuswa Village in Lusikisiki say they have been sharing their drinking water with pigs and dogs for over a decade.

Communal taps in the village ran dry thirteen years ago and they have been vandalized, according to residents.

The villagers heavily rely on rain collected water in their homesteads and during winter where there is insufficient rain they rely on unsafe streams to collect drinking water.  The streams are located in a forest nearby which villagers deem it to be unsafe especially for women and children who go there unaccompanied.

According to Mongezi Siko who is a member of the community said “I always accompany my wife to do laundry and collect water from that stream as it is not safe for her to be alone in the forest.”

Concerns of safety stem were echoed by South Africa Police Services Statistics quarterly report earlier this year which established that the town (Lusikisiki) is a rape hotspot.

Resident Nolwandle Biata said her mother sustained injuries and died while fetching water from the stream. My mother also sustained an injury and died as she was coming back from fetching water, this took place in April 2014. It is quite a walk to the stream that has a steep and narrow passage surrounded by the forest. We are sick and tired of being fed empty false promises by the government. It has been years and they cannot even provide us with temporary solutions as we await a permanent one. “They just do not care about us,” Biata said.

Another resident, Unathi Majova said: “During winter we are subjected to coughing up money in order to purchase water to fill in our tanks as the water from the stream is not safe after falling ill a couple of times after consuming it.”

As concerned parent, Mandisa Marais who also lives in the community said that her children are subjected to experiencing diarrhea from the water that is collected from a nearby stream. “At times I have witnessed animals drinking from streams we collect water from.” said Marais

Marais said being subjected to such inhumane and deprived of a basic need to clean water and sanitation has led her to losing hope.

Residents said that traditional leaders are aware of the ongoing water crisis.

Traditional Chief Leader Liziwe Sigcau said she had gathered a couple of residents from the community and visited the Local Ingquza Local Municipality for an inquiry in relation to the water crisis.

“I never got direct fruitful answers, as there were no implementations towards remedying the situation or even temporal ones. The municipality is aware that my community does not have water. They only care about us when it is time for canvassing for elections bringing revised empty promises,” Sigcau said.

Ingquza Hill Local Municipality spokesperson Zamuxolo Matwasa said that Local Government in and around brought about the allocation of the water provision to the District Municipalities and Metros. There have been strides which have been made like building of dams, boreholes and protection of streams. During Corona outbreak O.R Tambo working with other entities provided water tanks to assist all villages of Ingquza so that people are not left without water as there was a need to constantly washing of hands.

The Municipality has also invited O.R Tambo District Municipality to make a presentation on the water provision and there are plans to deal with water challenges for all the 32 wards of Ingquza as they all suffer.

“The municipality working with O.R Tambo will be visiting all the villages with water shortages to identify the potential water sources so that a permanent solution is in place which will benefit most of the people in a sustainable manner.” Matwasa said