Moorton resident, Dilhara Sheik, at a protest held in Croftdene in Chatsworth recently.
Image: Yoshini Perumal
RESIDENTS of Chatsworth are planning further protests as they face ongoing water supply issues, calling for the municipality to address the ineffective water rationing schedule.
The disgruntled residents said their taps had run dry for the last three days and they had no alternative but to take to the streets to vent their frustration.
They are also calling on the municipality to scrap the water rationing schedule, which they claim is not adhered to.
Yugen Pillay, chairperson of the Chatsworth Community Policing Forum (CPF,) said there had been sporadic protests and burning of tyres and rubble to get the attention of the municipality in the past few weeks.
He said residents were frustrated that although a water rationing schedule was in place, parts of Chatsworth had not had water for days.
“When the water does come on, it is for a few minutes and goes off again, sometimes for two or three days at a time. This is unacceptable. The municipality is useless and incapable of doing its work.
“People living in Arena Park, Moorton, Montford, Crossmoor and Shallcross are the worst affected. The water rationing schedule is not adhered to instead they have no water at all. This has been case in Moorton over the last three days,” said Pillay.
“Residents are angry that the water rationing appears to be only impacting Chatsworth and not the other areas in the municipality.
The municipality should split the supply equally, as it is a crime against humanity to leave people without water with days on end,” he added.
He said despite their numerous emails, calls and complaints to the city, their voices had fallen on deaf ears.
“The feedback we receive is not enough. We are given an automated response and we do not get proper feedback from councillors, as they can only tell us what the officials are telling them. Their hands are also tied.
“We need action to address the water supply issue. Where are the solutions? We need water to be split evenly across the city, and not for some areas to suffer more than others,” he said.
“Frustration is building and people want to continue to protest, and burn tyres to get their voices heard. It is becoming a tedious task to quell the frustrations,” added Pillay.
He said on Sunday, while the Chatsworth Freedom Ultra Marathon - a Comrades Marathon qualifier race - was underway, protests erupted in Moorton.
“CPF members and police diffused the situation and the race was able to continue as normal. Protests are going to spread to other parts of Chatsworth and other normal law-abiding citizens will go out and protest because they feel sidelined.
“The municipality is failing to fix the water crisis and we need urgent solutions,” Pillay added.
Naseema Suleman, a resident of Moorton, said she sent emails to the municipality reporting the issues of the water rationing schedule not being adhered to.
She said while she received a lengthy response from the city, it still said nothing about solutions.
“I received a response from the municipality that due to severe water shortages from Durban Heights, eThekwini Water and Sanitation has implemented a water rationing plan to ensure fair distribution across all affected areas. They apologised for the inconvenience and said they appreciated my understanding. They said their teams are working tirelessly to mitigate the shortages and balance supply between reservoirs.
“But this is not the case. They are not ensuring that water is distributed across all affected areas. For three days we have had no water. As per the rationing schedule, water was to be restored at 3pm yesterday, but there was not a drop of water coming out of our taps.
“We have been told that all of eThekwini is experiencing a water crisis. So why are just a few reservoirs being rationed so that the rest of eThekwini can enjoy water? Everyone should be rationed so that no one reservoir is being unfairly burdened.
“My son is in grade 10, and school closes when there's no water. The municipality fails to see that even the education sector is being affected by their incompetence. We hope that solutions are found soon,” she said.
The eThekwini Municipality did not respond at the time of going to print.