Residents in parts of Durban were left without water for more than a week. [Picture: The Herald]
When staff at a busy shopping district have to take time away from work to fill water buckets, it is clear the delivery of an essential service is failing. Unreliable water supply is just one of a myriad challenges facing residents in Durban. Now, authorities claim the situation is improving.
In a video that went viral on social media last week, staff from shops along the uMhlanga beachfront were seen hauling buckets to and from a stationed water tanker. Residents and businesses in affected areas were left without running water for at least eight days.
“As we’ve had a major breakthrough in that, we think we’ve been able to get rid of most of the air that was in the pipelines that were causing the restriction that was leading to the water supply interruption in uMhlanga and surrounding areas,” said Edwick Msweli, head of water and sanitation at the eThekwini Municipality.
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Human rights and water
The outage, which lasted more than a week, comes on the heels of a report by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) which found KwaZulu-Natal municipalities blameworthy for violating residents’ rights to water.
eThekwini Municipality, the local government of Durban, was one of several municipalities found to be violating this right. The plight of residents was worsened by the failure of officials to address the issue.
“This violation of rights is aggravated by the pervasive sense of neglect, disregard, and, in some instances, contempt for people’s suffering and their attempts to engage their municipality through officials and elected representatives,” said Philele Ntuli, a commissioner at the SAHRC.
Back to the situation in uMhlanga last week, an irate resident can be heard saying in the video: “People who are working in the restaurants need to leave their work and come here and collect water. Why? Because our municipality cannot do one thing correctly”.
He went on to describe the situation as “an embarrassment for this province and for this country”.
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