Jan Hofmeyr residents will once again have a steady water supply. [Picture: Nasreen Naidoo /Salaamedia]
It should not be that elderly people – or anyone, for that matter – have to go months, nevermind days, without water. Yet this was the experience of residents of a retirement village in Johannesburg for a year.
The city’s notorious water outages do not discriminate. In Jan Hofmeyr, one of the areas close to the city centre, elderly people have had to carry heavy buckets of water. Even at their advanced age.
In collaboration with Fordsburg Independent, Salaamedia was able to procure a water tanker that will top up supply at Amber Court Retirement Village every three days. Anonymous donors were able to bring another three. The water will go directly to their taps, sparing them the gruelling work of carrying bottles and buckets.
[WATCH] Johannesburg’s notorious water outages do not discriminate – they affect everyone, even the elderly. In Jan Hofmeyr, we speak to the fortunate recipients of a water initiative that will see their supply restored. #JHBWater #MandelaDay pic.twitter.com/NOJYiCUhIr
— Salaamedia (@salaamedia) July 18, 2024
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Reporting from the launch event on Mandela Day, Mariam Mia said: “This is not a backup. This is how water is going to be supplied to residents here”.
“Most of the residents are old, some of them have physical challenges, some are even visually impaired. They don’t even have the physical stamina to go and fill a 2l bottle of water, nevermind a 5l bucket.”
A relieved Patricia Lloyd, who has been resident at the village for five years, recalled life without a reliable water supply.
“We’ve been going from flat to flat, building to building, to get water to flush, to drink, to clean. It’s been a long time now that that’s happening. The joints are no longer strong,” she said, with a remark on her advanced age.
Earlier in the day, Salaamedia and Frimax handed over a borehole at the Greyville Primary School, Lenasia. COO Ponty Moletsane said this would go a long way towards fulfilling peoples’ right to access water.
