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Water scarcity has become a serious problem for residents of Lusikisiki. In the past complaints about water scarcity used to come from people living in the villages but currently, water scarcity is everyone’s problem.
Business owners such as fast food restaurants and hair salons need water for their businesses to keep going. The shortage of water stands in the way of these business’s success. “I have a home in the villages but I stay in town because of work and I wanted access to better services and water being one of them. But my daughter who is now 12 years old was born here in town and she’s never seen water coming out of our local tap. We buy water here and a load is R200.” Said Khayakazi Basi a lady that sells fast food in town.
For years now Lusikisiki has never owned a water source that caters for informal business owners around town. The owners of informal businesses which need water in their businesses have always had to either bring water from their homes or buy the water from people who fetch the water from an informal settlement in town.
Since water has become scarce in most villages surrounding Lusikisiki. People are now crowding in the informal settlement in town to get water and that means the businesses that used to get their water from that place are now faced with challenges of severe water shortages.
“I work at a hair salon and water is an essential part of our business. People come to wash their hair or relax their hair and all that needs water. We used to ask these young men who have trolleys to fetch the water for us and each 20 litres costs R10. That worked for us because their trips were fast since there weren’t long lines of people waiting to get the water. But now their trips can take up to hours for them to return because it’s always full. There are people coming from areas closer to town to fetch water for their homes.” Said Tholeka Namsisi Gwarhubana.
Most residents staying in areas without water say they have been living like this for years and have even gotten used to their situation. They rely on rain water and buying water in the dry season.
“where in the South Africa have you ever seen a town that doesn’t have a water source. Where does the municipality expect people to drink water when they’re in town. These days temperatures are high and people need to be hydrated so for people of Lusikisiki to be hydrated they need money to buy water.” Said one frustrated resident.
Residents say the issue of scarce water has been going on for years. And it is known by the municipality but nothing has been done to solve the water scarcity issue.
