A Port Edward vegetable farmer has told how she has been forced to give up agriculture because the KwaZulu-Natal south coast town has not had a consistent supply of water for more than two years.

Alida Stofberg is among thousands of residents, many elderly pensioners, who have been battling with water shortages and sewage overflow, which they said has made life untenable.

The Water Alliance Group Port Edward has taken up the cudgels on behalf of fed-up residents by submitting written complaints to water and sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu and local government officials, including the Ugu municipality mayor.

Martin van Zyl, chair of the group, described the situation as “dire”.

“We are mostly a pensioners’ town with people living below the breadline and having to go hungry because they have to buy water from private water tankers,” he said.

Van Zyl said those with health conditions are being put at further risk because they are unable to bathe properly due to the lack of water. 

Stofberg said she and other residents have thrown their weight behind the Water Alliance's Group's fight.

“I have given up vegetable farming as my only form of income as we have not had consistent water for more than two years. I have sold my washing machine.”

She said an employee's family, who are battling to survive, have been forced to buy water or boil water they collect from a river for drinking and bathing.

“I am carrying my precious rain water to a deathly ill neighbour who cannot get out of bed to walk and get his own. I have more than 22,000 litres of storage where I collect rain water but that is also empty.

“Our plight is not on the national news, unlike others who are without water for only a few days. We are pleading for help to get at least a share of the water that is available. Our plight falls on deaf ears.”

Van Zyl said residents have been unable to bath or prepare food because they have run out of money to buy water. He said supplies provided by the Gift of the Givers have run out and some residents are begging the group for water.

“People who live near the river in Banners Rest have to drink water directly from the river, leading to diseases.”

TimesLIVE recently reported that the Ugu municipality blamed an interprovincial electricity issue between KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape for water shortages.

The municipality said at the time it was aware of “issues pertaining to intermittent supply in areas fed by the Umtamvuna plant”.

“To be able to pump more volume of water, we needed more electricity. The plant is located on the border line of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

“For Eskom to implement that, they needed to go through the Eastern Cape.”

The community living there had their own service delivery issues with the municipality in the Eastern Cape and opposed it, Ugu municipality said.

“There were meetings to sort out the issue. It took quite a long time for them to agree.

“The municipality, ratepayers association and Water Alliance Group agreed there is hope for improvement in water supply in Port Edward after progress made with a cross-border electricity issue. All parties are expecting that by the end of September the situation will have been resolved.”

TimesLIVE