Two village women who have lived for a combined 120 years still dream of having running water for their villages.
Nomorning Mantyi and her friend NoLimit Zazini live in Manzana and Tsazo villages.
In Tsazo, Mantyi showed the Daily Dispatch team a brand-new water reservoir built last year to provide water to the village. She said the waterworks had never provided any water to her community.
“This is just a fake statement to the outside world to say we are receiving services from government. A brand new water reservoir is standing empty in my village. How do these contractors sleep at night or spend their profits knowing that their projects are not finished?”
She said they drew their water from Nomafuthana and Wotshini community dams. “We drink there. We’ve been drinking there for over 60 years. I’ve never tasted water from the tap in my village.”
Zazini from Manzana Komkhulu said their plea to government had always been for the supply of clean drinking water. She says they share their only water between two villages with animals. “We call on government to work harder to get water to our villages,” said Zazini.
But Mfuraa Projects and General director Mfundo Kwani said they always made sure that their schemes were not “left hanging. We give our best and provide quality work for any project. We make sure we finish our projects and the Manzana case has been confirmed by technicians that water was running there. I am surprised that there’s no water. We will investigate this,” said Kwani.
In two other areas in Manzana called Blayi and Ntshobela, residents still get their drinking water from, and wash their clothes in a murky stream.
Nokhanyiso Mposwa said democracy had no meaning in many villages. “If in my village of Manzana where I come from we are drinking from a dam still today, then democracy is meaningless,” she said.
But the two elderly women said they felt for the younger generation.
“We are used to this as we grew up drinking from river streams. But the current generation need not relax but fight to get what is their basic right,” said Mantyi. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za
Villagers yearning for clean drinking water
Nomorning Mantyi and her friend NoLimit Zazini live in Manzana and Tsazo villages.
In Tsazo, Mantyi showed the Daily Dispatch team a brand-new water reservoir built last year to provide water to the village. She said the waterworks had never provided any water to her community.
“This is just a fake statement to the outside world to say we are receiving services from government. A brand new water reservoir is standing empty in my village. How do these contractors sleep at night or spend their profits knowing that their projects are not finished?”
She said they drew their water from Nomafuthana and Wotshini community dams. “We drink there. We’ve been drinking there for over 60 years. I’ve never tasted water from the tap in my village.”
Zazini from Manzana Komkhulu said their plea to government had always been for the supply of clean drinking water. She says they share their only water between two villages with animals. “We call on government to work harder to get water to our villages,” said Zazini.
But Mfuraa Projects and General director Mfundo Kwani said they always made sure that their schemes were not “left hanging. We give our best and provide quality work for any project. We make sure we finish our projects and the Manzana case has been confirmed by technicians that water was running there. I am surprised that there’s no water. We will investigate this,” said Kwani.
In two other areas in Manzana called Blayi and Ntshobela, residents still get their drinking water from, and wash their clothes in a murky stream.
Nokhanyiso Mposwa said democracy had no meaning in many villages. “If in my village of Manzana where I come from we are drinking from a dam still today, then democracy is meaningless,” she said.
But the two elderly women said they felt for the younger generation.
“We are used to this as we grew up drinking from river streams. But the current generation need not relax but fight to get what is their basic right,” said Mantyi. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za
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