As the global community celebrates the centenary of Nelson Mandela, his eldest grandson, Nkosi Mandla Zwelivelile Mandela, decried the lack of clean water and health services at the former president’s birthplace of Mvezo.
Although the world icon fought to see rural areas being supplied with clean water, Mandla said little had changed at Mvezo.
People still share the water sources with pigs and goats. He said they get water from pools or a fountain, or must pay R500 to have water carted from the nearby Mbhashe river to fill their water tanks.
Mandla said his community was unhappy that their clinic, which was built six years ago and is fully furnished, stands unused.
His subjects were paying R60 for transport to the nearest clinic at Nywarha, which was contributing to the high number of teenage pregnancies and unsafe sex. Youths could not afford the ride to the clinic to get free government-supplied condoms.
Daily Dispatch attended a community meeting in Mvezo recently. Community members became emotional when they told how Madiba, whose roots were in Mvezo, sacrificed his life for the struggle for liberation, but 24 years into democracy, people living in his village of birth could not tell the difference between the time of oppression and the era of democracy.
“We still share water with pigs and donkeys, we still have to use donkeys to ferry water from the river, we have been doing that since the time of the apartheid regime.We still spend about R60 on transport to access health services. Nobody ever thought that could be the case, especially when the country and the world is celebrating the 100th birthday of a global icon who was born here in Mvezo and his chiefdom continues to operate,” said resident Nosandla Lolo.
Lolo said that they had believed that a decent supply of clean water would be one of the first changes to be enjoyed by the people of Mvezo.
“In Cape Town there was a crisis of Day Zero around the scarcity of water. It was a big thing. Let us take Mvezo, there is permanently no water,” Mandla said.
“Rural South Africans have been reduced to secondary citizens in their land of birth. We must look at the message we are sending to our people, particularly people living in rural areas, in poverty-stricken areas without basic amenities.”
He acknowledged that water tanks were donated to every household in Mvezo and Ludondolo by the department of rural development. But he said there had been no rain.
Mandla said there were merely “rumours” that the OR Tambo municipality would be spending R10-million on a water supply project for the villages of Mvezo.
He said a clinic was built in Mvezo in 2008 and finished and fully furnished in 2012.
“But 10 years since the [start of] construction of the facility and now six years after the construction was finalised, people of Mvezo still cannot access the health facility in the village.
For over six years we have been requesting health department to open that clinic, but have been told this and that,” said Mandla.
The Daily Dispatch visited the clinic and met three nurses. They said they would only be working when the clinic was opened.
Mandla said he hoped President Cyril Ramaphosa would open it tomorrow.
The Dispatch saw ceiling boards were loose, flooring at the entrance was damaged, and doors, windows and locks were broken.
The Dispatch was told a new contractor was hired last week, apparently to do the repairs.
Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle’s spokesman, Sonwabo Mbanga, could not be reached for comment...