While water is regarded as a source of life, rural communities in seven villages of Ward 7 in the Mutale Local Municipality regard it as one of the most luxurious commodities ever.

The affected rural communities in Mufulwi, Ngalavhani, Mafukani, Ha-Mabila and other surrounding villages say they have been without water for the past five months. The only water is a distance away and they are forced to travel about three kilometers to the Savhani River, where they have to share the water with cattle.

They feel they have been robbed of their votes. “We voted for better lives during the May municipal elections last year, but our votes have turned into a nightmare for us. We want clean water from the taps as promised during the election campaign,” said one villager, who doesn’t want to be named.

“Since December last year, there has been no water and the municipality ha been promising us, but nothing is coming. In the past, we used to get clean water from our taps through the Gwangwatini Water Scheme,” said a worried villager.

Some other villagers said they used to fork out money for hiring a donkey-kart, which normally cost them as much as R100 per load. “It is too costly for us as some of us depend on grants," said another villager.

Ward 7 councillor in the Mutale local municipality, Ms Sylvia Thambatshira, denies that there are water shortages in her ward. She says that, due to electricity problems at the Gwangwatini Water Scheme, the scheme is not producing water. “We used to deliver water to those affected as the scheme was not producing water. We are doing our best to provide water, even though the scheme is not working properly,” said Thambatshira.