Some residents still without tap water in tale of two villages

While residents of Lazu village in Mnyolo near Ngcobo enjoy running tapwater, their neighbours in Mkhonkotho village a kilometre away are still forced to draw water from rivers. In January,Chris Hani District Municipalitybosses announced both villages had become beneficiaries of the district authority’s broader spring development programmes which saw communal taps connected to natural springs. The district municipality claimed three communal taps had been installed in the two villages, out of a possible six.

The villages in the deeply rural Dr AB Xuma Local Municipality are sandwiched between the Mnyolo river and a mountain. When a Dispatch team visited the two villages on Friday, it discovered three taps had been installed in Lazu while none had been installed in Mkhonkotho. The visit was in response to a complaint by Gcobani Nkwele, a member of the Ngcobo Yethu Civic Organization (Nyco), launched late in 2025.

Mkhonkotho pensioner Nonceba Gigi, 72, confirmed the village still did not have tap water, despite having been promised that several tanks would be set up to catch water from the mountain behind the village. “We have been battling for many years, hoping we would also have tap water just like everyone else. “Unfortunately, this has not happened.

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We still have to drink water where pigs swim.” Gigi’s relative, Mlungisi Mnqayi, 70, said the villagers themselves had dug trenches where pipes were to be laid and taps installed. They were told at least five villages would benefit from the project. “We dug up in Lazu and they came and laid the pipes and installed a few taps there. They promised to come back.

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