Nombanjana and its surrounding villages in the Eastern Cape boast uninterrupted ocean views. But the people in the villages of ward 28 in Centane, Mnquma local Municipality have not had access to clean drinking water since 2017.   

Taps that were installed after 1994 have been dry for years now, forcing people to walk 3km to get water from the local river. 

In some instances people have to share a man made dam with animals as they can’t afford to hire a tractor or a truck. Hiring a tractor for a single trip to fetch water from the river to fill their Jojo tanks costs villagers about R700.  

A community leader, Lulamile Khetshemiya tells Health-e News that people have been forced to fetch water from rivers which they share with animals. He says at times they would find carcasses in the river. 

“There are thousands of people from three wards, 26, 27 and 28 that are affected by the water crisis. There are villages that have never had water. In our village [kwaNombajana] we had water when pipes were installed in 2014,” he says. “We only enjoyed that for a few months but the water supply was inconsistent. In 2017 the taps ran dry till this day.” 

Khetshemiya says people have to travel for an hour to other villages to get water as the local rivers are mostly used by animals.

“There are elderly women and disabled people who can’t travel that distance. They end up using their grant money to hire people to fetch water for them. 

“It’s dangerous especially for women and children as they have to walk in a forest. They might be physically attacked or even raped. School children don’t have time to rest as they need to rush to the river,” he says. 

A 2023 United Nations report shows that women and girls are disproportionately disadvantaged by water shortages. For example, they bear the primary responsibility of collecting water in seven out of 10 households compared to three in 10 households for their male peers. The report reads:  

“In most cases, women and girls make longer journeys to collect water, losing time in education, work, leisure and putting themselves at risk of physical injury and dangers on the way.” 

Ongoing battle 

In 2021 the villagers, with the support of the NGO Masifunde Development Trust,  approached the Mthatha High Court to get water access but it did not yield any results. 

Speaking on behalf of the trust, Boyisile Mafilika says Mnquma local Municipality was meant to deliver water twice a week in the affected villages. But that has not happened. 

“An engineer was hired by the municipality in September 2021 and he worked for six months without being paid. He recommended boreholes but that has never happened,” he says. 

Mafilika says drilling for a borehole had started, but was never finished.

“The country has been celebrating 30 years of democracy but people from these villages are yet to enjoy the fruit of democracy. According to the constitution everyone has a right to access clean water. Government only pretends to care about them when they campaign for votes,” he says. 

Nokwezi Tyala, wife of the chief at Nombanjana village, says in 2021 the municipality brought in two 10,000 litre Jojo tanks. When these are full, the water doesn’t even last for a day. 

“Most of the people in this village are unemployed and cannot afford to buy their own Jojo tanks. We are sick and tired of empty promises from officials who only care about our votes. It is our constitutional right to get water,” she says. 

Tyala says, as the traditional authority, they have held meetings with the municipality and they have also supported the court case.

‘Significant progress has been made’

Amathole District Municipality is responsible for providing water to Mnquma Local Municipality. Amathole acting spokesperson Sisa Msiwa says significant progress has been made in the provision of water and sanitation services. But more work still needs to be done. 

According to the municipality, between the financial years 2016/17 and 2021/22 it has provided 12,888 households with basic levels of water supply. In the 2021/22 budget an amount of R725 million was approved for the implementation of Ngqamakhwe Regional Water Supply Scheme which entails the construction of bulk water supply from Tsomo to Ngqamakhwe. This project is only expected to be completed in September 2025. 

“As a rural district, we are not only characterised by insufficient bulk infrastructure but are also confronted with a huge and historical services backlog. Grant funds are dedicated to the water provision. But these remain threateningly insufficient to either start a new project, or complete the existing regional bulk infrastructure projects within specified time frames,” says Msiwa. “As for areas without bulk water infrastructure such in Mnquma’s ward 28 and surrounding areas, part of our intervention plans include drilling, testing and equipping of boreholes in addition to delivery of water tanks.” 

She says currently the municipality is busy with interim arrangement of drilling boreholes and construction of storage tanks. The project is 40% complete. 

She adds that the court issue is being attended to at multi-governmental level since it is not only Amathole district that was brought to court. 

“There are engagements that are taking place but we are not able to report on them at this stage,” she says. – Health-e News