Mzamomhle township in Gonubie has no water.
Angry residents say the problem started last week when their water supply was cut off from 6am to 6pm daily.
On Saturday afternoon the taps reportedly went dry from 1pm, with not a drop all day on Sunday.
According to the residents, they received a minor reprieve on Monday morning but it was the same again from 1pm.
They have had no water since.
From as early as 4am, throngs of people can be seen carrying buckets into the suburbs to beg for water so they can prepare for work.
Other residents said they resorted to visiting the nearby squatter camp to make use of the communal taps, despite the long queues.
All of the residents spoken to said they had received no explanation from either their ward councillor or from Buffalo City Metro.
“Most of us here are dirty because we have not washed today. We couldn’t even send our children to school because we had no water for them to wash or to cook porridge this morning,” Sibulele Ndabazandile said.
Another resident, Mziyanda Mzoboshe, said many households had resorted to relieving themselves in the bushes as their toilets had long blocked up.
“We can’t flush and we don’t want to waste what little water we get on using it to flush. We would rather go to the bushes or use buckets,” he said, adding children from Mzamowethu Pre-School were sent home early as a consequence.
Mzivukile Lali said they had tried to contact their ward councillor for an explanation but none was forthcoming.
When the Daily Dispatch arrived in the area, residents were wheeling bottles and buckets out of the township in wheelbarrows or trolleys in search of water.
Calls to ward 28 councillor Xolile Cakata were diverted to a voicemail message.
Questions were sent to BCM spokesman Thandy Matebese but no response had been received at the time of writing.