Angry members of the community in Ngodini near White River and surrounding villages burnt tyres and blockaded the streets with several objects including stones causing traffic disruption and demanded water on Wednesday morning.
A community member, Joseph Nkosi, said that it had been four months that there was no consistency in the provision of water in the area and the community had vowed to force authorities to make sure water was available.
“Water is a source of life as we all know. We fail to understand how the authorities think we can leave without water. Water in this area comes once in a month if we are lucky so we are very tired and angry about the situation,” said Nkosi.
People travelling to the city of Nelspruit and surrounding towns such as White River, Rocky’s Drift and Hazyview arrived late for work following the road blockades.
Police had managed to calm the situation by midday and Mbombela municipality, which services the area, announced through the Ligwalagwala FM that water tankers would be deployed to help the community with water before the end of the day.
“The question is why did we have to go to war before we could be given water, this is why I did not even bother to vote because even if I did I was still going to be a victim of circumstances,” said another community member, Charlotte Mnisi.
Police had a tough time trying to disperse the angry crowd who also threw stones on passing motorists and two protesters were arrested for public violence but released a while later.
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September 21, 2011
Current Affairs