Bethlehem informal residents beg water off neighbours
An estimated 1800 people call the Silahliwe settlement home and share just eight water taps and five toilets, only two of which are working. Long, snaking queues for taps and toilets lead to desperate measures, say residents.
“We normally wait in queues, but some of us we just (relieve) ourselves on the ground because we cannot wait for that long just to use the toilet,” resident Motlalepula Mahlangu told OurHealth.
Long queues for drinking water have also led to fighting between residents, according to Matlakala Mosia.
Community members also reported walking to nearby communities with piped water to beg for water. While the municipality has installed taps in the community, these have not kept pace with the growing settlement.
Dihlabeng Local Municipality Mayor Tjhetane Mofokeng said that the municipality plans to erect RDP houses for residents of the settlement with piped water. However he said that about a third of the community will be forced to leave.
“Silahliwe is an informal settlement which will be done away with and then the area will be formalized by building RDP houses and about 500 households will be moved”, Mofokeng said.
Read more stories from Health-e News’ water investigation:
- Water trucks take over as communities run dry
- Residents left to plead for water at school gates
- Dirty water deliveries for Limpopo villages
- R300 million slated to improve Madibeng Municipal water
- Water crisis looms in Kestell, Free State
- Water shortage sparks diarrhoea cases
- Municipality installs pump but community can’t foot electrical bill
- Tshwane communities survive on a trickle of water
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