Durban - A high-level government delegation met with oThongathi residents on Friday to discuss water supply challenges following violent protests last week.
Hambanathi residents burnt JoJo tanks and tyres on Thursday due to the lack of water since the April floods hit.
OThongathi was severely affected by the floods as the oTongathi Water Treatment Works washed away which resulted in the interruption of water supply in the area.
A meeting at oThongathi Sports Centre on Friday night was attended by Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Sihle Zikalala, eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, deputy mayor Philani Mavundla and municipal Water and Sanitation officials.
The city said during the meeting a task team was established to ensure constant communication among all parties on the implementation and updates on the water supply interventions.
The first meeting of the task team, which comprises government leaders, officials and residents took place on Saturday.
“Resolutions taken at the meeting will ensure that residents are not without water for long periods while the city works around the clock to achieve completion of repairs of the oThongathi Water Treatment plant by October this year. Repairs are currently under way and are progressing well,” said the city.
The minister said in the interim, there will be a tie-in to the Mamba Ridge pipeline that will assist to direct two million litres of water a day from Hazelmere Dam to the oThongathi area.
The Mamba Ridge tie-in is expected to be completed by September 15.
“We will also approach Tongaat Hulett Sugar Maidstone Mill at their earliest convenience to ask them to assist with boosting water supply in the area so residents can have water running from their taps. We will also approach Ilembe District Municipality and Ndwedwe Local Municipality to also assist in boosting water supply in this area,” he said.
Kaunda added that 26 water tankers will continue to supply the community regularly.
Don Perumall, chairperson of the Tongaat Civic Association, said eThekwini Municipality has upped its game with regard to the provision of water takers.
However, Perumall said a lack of open communication has become an irritation to residents who have no idea what the schedule is for the water tankers.“There is absolutely no communication, I think it is a contributing factor to the irritation of the residents,” he said.
Perumall said residents would be able to plan when to collect water if a schedule was made available to them.
He said at times the tanker arrives after residents have left for work or residents only discover that the tankers are in the area as they are leaving to go out somewhere.
He added that this was a common complaint by residents across the wards.
Perumall said during the meeting at the weekend the possibility of water shedding in some areas, was among the proposals made.“We pray that Minister Senzo Mchunu is able to speak to iLembe to help us watershed their areas to help us transfer water into Tongaat,” he said.
He said currently, the Mariga Reservoir has not been opened to supply water to oThongathi because Hazelmere had a breakdown and was not able to supply water to capacity.
Perumall said there was a line coming in from Ndwedwe Municipality into the township of Belvedere, that has also been throttled or stopped. He said it is believed that if more water is taken from the Ndwedwe line it would collapse and take too much time to build the reservoir back up.