As December continues, some South Africans are likely to be spending end of the year bonuses on booze in what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has dubbed one of Africa’s hardest drinking nations.
Recently the Villalissa Support Group based in Johannesburg’s East Rand threw a Christmas party for orphaned and vulnerable children, but the NGO is the third in as many months to complain about decreased funding.
Avelile was born with HIV. Now, the teenager from rural Eastern Cape never misses a dose of her antiretrovirals (ARVs) – and has become an example to her community.
Martha and her 17-year-old daughter are living with HIV. When they come to the Kopano Lerato centre, they feel accepted and supported. Now, the community-based organisation is in danger of closing.
As municipal taps remain dry, Hammanskraal communities outside Pretoria continue to go to great lengths for drinking water.
Amid ongoing power cuts, many communities are dealing with intermittent water supplies and relying on water trucks for portable water as municipalities struggle to maintain their water systems.
Without running water, residents of one rural Mpumalanga community say they are left to beg for water at the gates of a local school where they say security guards often turn them away empty handed.
At least two villages in Limpopo’s Mutale Local Municipality depend on municipal water trucks to survive but now villagers are claiming the trucks are delivering dirty water.
Residents of the small, rural Mpumalanga town of Vezinyawo said they were told to pay R2 to keep a municipal water pump working after the municipality would not pay R200 for prepaid electricity, residents allege.
Local Ward 3 Councillor Susan Nthangeni says R300 million has been allocated to fix local municipal pipes and boreholes following deadly service delivery protests in April.
A recent water shortage in Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape and surrounding areas is being blamed for at least four cases of diarrhoea among local children.
With the construction of a promised dam delayed, residents of Kestell, Free State say that the lack of water risks their lives and their livelihoods.
Residents of Silahliwe informal settlement outside Bethlehem share one working toilet for about every 900 people. According to local officials, securing access to water and sanitation may mean that about a third of the settlement’s residents will have to move.
When emergencies happen, rural communities outside Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape say there is no one to call – and with disastrous results.
Community members say they have tried for years to get the Department of Social Development to assist a child-headed family in Buhle Park east of Johannesburg. Now, they fear for the family’s safety.
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