Zukile Majova
It will take a lot more than just corruption, poor service delivery or bad corporate governance in municipalities for the ANC to lose power in its strongholds.
As I write this week’s Letter from Mount Frere, businesses and residents in KwaBhaca have been without water for three weeks.
Flush toilets all over town, including at petrol stations, have no water. Taxi and bus ranks and other public spaces, where thousands of people interact without social distancing, have no water.
And yet, there is no public protest against this; there is no toyi-toying.
The village of Elubhacweni on the outskirts of KwaBhaca has underground water pipes but has not had water for five years.
Community protests? Never.
You see, we live in the heartland of the ANC. And in this region, the ANC is a religion.
Whether it delivers on its promises or not, the residents here feel their fortunes are linked to the fortunes of the ruling party.
Many households here have pensioners, unemployed adults or children whose only source of income is some form of social grant from the state.
Stats SA says Umzimvubu Local Municipality is the poorest region in SA with the least number of households with flush toilets.
Pit latrines at schools here are not the exception – those symbols of a primitive lifestyle are the norm.
Even pupils at newly built schools in the region use pit latrines. In an environment where water cuts can last an entire month, flush toilets are not a feasible option.
In July, I witnessed dozens of villagers in Mnambithi village, outside eMaxesibeni digging water trenches, diverting a stream from the mountain to their village.
Livestock including pigs and chickens drink from the same water source as humans with no water purification chemicals being provided for the poor.
As a middle class resident compared to the standards of the region, private operators sell water to me at R750 for a 2,500 litre tank and R1,500 for a 5,000 litre tank.
For people who survive on the R350 a month grant or the R1,800 old age grant, buying water from these private merchants is out of the question.
