NOTHANDO MAKHUBELA
EMALAHLENI– Residents in Emalahleni still going days and weeks without water. This added to the water crisis as Emalahleni Local Municipality announced the possible water supply interruption which took three days due to the leaking pump line.
The Municipality vowed to supply temporary water tankers to all affected areas in Emalahleni, including Schools, Clinics and Police Stations.
Talking with Timeless News Emalahleni Local Municipality spokesperson Lebohang Mofokeng said “The water department has carried out repairs at the Witbank Dam raw water pump station , on Tuesday from 06h00 until 18h00 due to a leaking pump line and we have installed on-return valves and isolation valves,” said Mofokeng.
“We therefore, advise the community and the businesses to fill up the onsite water storage facilities during this period and use water sparingly during the water shutdown. Water tankers will only be available at strategic areas such as Schools, Clinics and Police stations,” he added.
It has been reportedly to Timeless News that water supply to all areas was expected to normalize today, unfortunately most residents in Empumelelweni, Ezinambeni, Hlalanikahle were not happy at all.
Sibongile Ntuli said “ We always face water challenges, every day. Normally in Ezinamben we get water during 12:00 am especially in Winter. We struggle to be given clean water, ” she said.
Residents in Emalahleni they want Emalahleni Local Municipality to start supplying them with purified water. Water tankers have been reportedly dirty and having ring worms inside.
Representing the South African National Civil Organization (SANCO) in Emalahleni, Leonard Lubisi ,Zonal Chairperson said “The water crisis at Emalahleni now needs the intervention of the national ministry. The community is suffering as we don’t have a dam. It also raise a concern whether we got right personnel in the senior management within the Emalahleni Local Municipality? 90 percent of the work most of the time is being outsourced to private service providers while they got personnel in their payroll. In a simplest term Emalahleni local municipality should be declared a national disaster area,” said Lubisi.
