Pretoria - Dimakatso Mantsho of Extension 3 in Ikageng, Mamelodi east, wakes up at 3am every day to fetch water from a nearby community centre to prepare her children for school.
She catches a taxi to the capital’s CBD and then another to Johannesburg, where she works as a cashier.
In the afternoon, she does the return route to find Extension 3 in the dark.
This is the everyday plight of the residents of Ikageng, who have not had running water from their taps for the past 16 months.
On top of that, there hasn’t been electricity for the past three days.
Not so far from her house, at the Ikageng Community Hall, residents often line up with 20l and 10l buckets and 5l bottles to fill them, with water for drinking, cooking and washing.
Mantsho told of her ordeal: “I come back late from work, because it’s far. I can’t fill up buckets of water when I come back because it’s dark around the community centre. There would be no electricity, so it’s not safe.”
The community said they had become used to living without water, but the addition of the lack of electricity was hitting them because of crime.
Two other residents of Ikagang alleged that a well-known gang, Boko Haram, roamed the area and they were suspected of being behind the water shortages and the electricity cuts.
Boko Haram is infamous for killings and crime sprees in Mamelodi and surrounding areas.
A university student who spoke to the Pretoria News on condition of anonymity because of fear of the gang, said its bosses were involved in water tender deals in the area and had used up all the money. He said the gang worked with politicians in these deals.
The community was terrified to speak out about the matter, he said.
“When you talk too much, they come after you,” he said, asking the Pretoria News photographer not to take any pictures.
A 64-year-old woman who was sweeping her yard and who also asked not to be named, said she was terrified of the gang. “I’m an elderly woman who is on pension.
“But I can’t even drink tea at my own house because I don’t have water nor electricity.
“Sometimes there is a small bit of water that comes out or they sometimes bring water tanks. But it’s never enough because we can’t even flush the toilet,” she said.
The woman claimed that the community had written a letter to the mayor of Tshwane to plead for help. She was surprised when she was informed by the Pretoria News that Tshwane now had a newly elected mayor.
Councillors on Tuesday elected Dr Murunwa Makwarela to replace Randall Williams as mayor, who quit last month. The community said they repeatedly reported the matter to the municipality to no avail.
City of Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo had yet to comment by the time of going to press.
However, the Pretoria News reported that he had previously said: “The City of Tshwane is experiencing a delay in establishing the area because it has been proclaimed.
“If Ikageng (becomes) a formalised area, we will need a reference number for the water interruption that should have been given to residents after reporting the water outage.”
Pretoria News