Centane villagers take fight for adequate water supply to high court

The right to drinking water in the drought-stricken Eastern Cape has come under scrutiny in the Mthatha high court.

On Tuesday, lawyers and activists representing 600 households from six villages in Centane accused both provincial and national government of unlawfully failing to provide them with clean drinking water for four years.

The six villages — Nombanjana, Nxaxo, Ngcizela, Mazeppa, Gcina and Cebe — in Mnquma municipality’s ward 28 — have demanded the speedy, if not immediate, supply of potable water.

Residents Lulamile Khetshemiya, Mantani Mkalitshi and Harvey Ntshoko, and the Masifundise Development Trust, supported by the Centre for Environmental Rights, launched an urgent application before judge Zamani Nhlangulela. hey are asking the court to order water & sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu, co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-zuma, premier Oscar Mabuyane, the Amathole district municipality (ADM), Amatola Water Board and Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai to supply these rural communities with water.

Protesters from the community members, Masifundise Development Trust and Coastal Links gathered outside the court on Tuesday.

Masifundise spokesperson Sibongiseni Gwebani said on a daily basis they endured the violation of their human rights enshrined in sections 24 and 27 of the constitution of SA.

“Many water-scarce communities without access to clean water in their homes have been forced to meet their water needs through contaminated rivers and have depleted boreholes.”

He accused local governments of inconsistent water deliveries.

Renowned SA human rights lawyer Geoff Budlender SC, who leads the team of lawyers, said the community members did not simply run to court but had engaged with the authorities many times, to no avail.

Budlender took the judge through all the steps taken by the communities to bring the attention of the authorities to their plight.

In the applicants’ papers, Angus James Pringle of Drake, Flemmer & Orsmond submitted that the failure of the respondents to provide ward 28 residents with potable water supply within 200 metres of their households was unlawful.

“It infringes their right of access to water, their right to dignity and their right to a healthy environment.”

He said the government had breached sections 2 and 3 of the Water Service Act of 1997.

He said repeated attempts to obtain assistance from the government had failed.

“Without accessible tanks kept filled with water, the people living in the villages were unable to take preventive measures that could make the difference between life and death.”

He said ward 28 residents walked a long and arduous 90 minutes to Khobonqaba River each day to collect water which is often contaminated by rotting animal carcasses and needs to be boiled before use.

Pringle said that in 2008 ADM installed 22 taps in the villages, but all ran dry and some had been vandalised. He said unsuccessful attempts were made to resolve the water crisis.

On April 3 2020, 10 community leaders from ward 28, including Khetshemiya, Mkalitshi and Ntshoko, were arrested for contravening lockdown regulations, after they held a meeting to discuss the water crisis.

In their urgent relief, the applicants want the court to order ADM and Amatola Water Board to give them water within 15 days.

They demanded a minimum of 25 litres per person per day or six kilolitres per household per month and that water be accessible within 200 metres of any household.

The applicants further called for the court to order the respondents to devise and implement a long-term sustainable plan to ensure that access to water is provided to ward 28 residents.

A copy of the plan should be with the court within two months of the required order.

They opposed any out-ofcourt mediation.

The matter continues.