Villagers get water after 20 dry years

Water shortages. (Pic credit: Anita Martinz)

However, several weeks after Nkomazi Mayor Johan Musa Mkhatshwa was sworn in, he has made service delivery a priority – and high on his list was to ensure that the people of Mgobodzi had running water so they would no longer have to share local steams with animals for drinking, washing and cooking.

Community elder Sarah Ngobeni said she was grateful. “From now on I will enjoy my pension because I will no longer use it to buy water, which I was supposed to be provided for free by the  municipality.”

Accountable

Resident Andries Khoza said the reason the community has lived without clean water for so long was that no one in the municipality was ever held accountable. “And now a new mayor comes and things start to happen. Our prayer is that he will continue to bring service delivery to the communities, especially to the villages because this is where people are struggling the most.”

Nkomazi Municipality spokesperson Cyril Repinga said the Mgobozi water shortage had been placed high on the agenda and people in most of the area were now getting water.

“There is another intervention project that has been completed and water is now pumping into the reservoir. There is another project that will start soon and will augment this current project,” he said.

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