Kat-Katvallei resident Lithemba Geduka is happy to have water after four months of dry taps. Photos: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik
-
KwaMaqoma residents say taps can run dry for weeks, while the refurbishment of the Fort Beaufort water treatment works, due for completion in June 2026, remains unfinished.
-
In nearby Upsher and Rose Farm villages, residents say water tanks are rarely filled and tanker deliveries have stopped in some areas, forcing people to collect water from a river shared with livestock.
-
Water supply was restored in KwaMaqoma this week, but the municipality says rationing will continue because demand exceeds the treatment works’ capacity.
Prolonged water outages, blocked toilets and sewage flowing through the streets are daily life for residents of KwaMaqoma (formerly Fort Beaufort), where refurbishment of the water treatment works is months behind schedule.
Water and sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina told Parliament in June 2025 that R150-million had been allocated for the complete refurbishment of the Fort Beaufort water treatment works by June 2027, increasing the capacity of the plant to 15-million litres a day.
In the meantime, the Department of Water and Sanitation has allocated R22-million in 2025/26 through the water services infrastructure grant as a short-term intervention. Completion was planned for June 2026. But when Groundup visited in September, residents said taps sometimes run dry for weeks. When water returns, it is sometimes available only late at night.
Residents have repeatedly protested over water shortages, and Gift of the Givers has intervened to provide water.
Majodina said the introduction of waterborne sanitation, completed in June 2015, had increased demand beyond the capacity of the town’s water treatment works, which could only treat 6.5-million litres a day.
Leaks, particularly from household toilet cisterns, compounded the shortages, she said. The Amathole District Municipality (ADM) had assessed 1,282 households and found 1,059 required repairs. Repairs had helped restore supply to some areas but several communities, particularly rural villages, remained without water.
Jerome Trompetter, from Newtown township, says sewage spills, blocked drains and water shortages have become the norm in his area.
GroundUp spoke to resident Jerome Trompetter who returned to KwaMaqoma three years ago after working as a butler in Cape Town and Germany. Trompetter walks with crutches following a recent leg amputation. He said his toilet backwashes and is unusable. He uses the toilet of a neighbour. He said water shortages force him to turn clients away from his salon because he cannot wash their hair. He now asks clients to arrive with their hair already washed.
When GroundUp visited in September water was available for only a few hours that day.
“At least this area is at a lower level. Those who are in upper areas sometimes go without water for three months,” he said.
“The sad thing is that we are no longer complaining. People are tired. We are just watching,” said Trompetter.
Henry Abrahams says he has reported this leaking pipe for years, but it has never been repaired.
Next to Trompetter’s house is a leaking pipe. His neighbour, Henry Abrahams, said he had reported it to the municipality several times over the years.
Municipal workers had visited and taken photographs, but the leak remains.
“Municipal workers pass this street with their cars almost every day. I would stop them and ask for assistance. They would promise to come back. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, and the burst is never fixed,” he said.
In Calendola Street sewage spills have left the road muddy with grass growing over parts of it. There is a strong stench.
Frances Peterson stands near foul-smelling wastewater flowing from a blocked toilet.
In 7de Laan, Frances Peterson said three houses share a sewer pipe, and all experience blockages. She said municipal workers had repeatedly attended to her toilet.
“If they fix it in the afternoon, we know the next morning it will be back to what it was,” she said.
When she calls again, she is told workers have already been sent to her home. Sometimes she waits three months for them to return.
Her house is now surrounded by a bog, affecting the foundation and paint.
n Upsher village, about 35km from KwaMaqoma, residents said ADM had promised to install taps in 2024. They are still waiting.
The village has three water tanks. Ward committee member Xolani Kheswa said these were supposed to be filled weekly, but only one was being filled, about once every three to four months. He said workers responsible for deliveries had blamed poor road conditions for their inability to reach the other tanks.
Kheswa said nearby Rose Farm village no longer gets any water truck service.
Residents walk to a river to collect water, which they share with livestock.
“Pigs swim in that same water we use. We are sharing it with animals,” he said.
Residents say this water tank in Upsher village is filled only once every three to four months, while the other two tanks have remained empty for years.
In March 2022, GroundUp reported on water shortages in Mhlangeni, near Hertzog, and Kat-Katvallei, near Seymour. At the time, community leaders in Mhlangeni said problems with the boreholes had begun in 2018. Kat-Katvallei residents said they had been without water for months.
We returned to Mhlangeni in September. Resident Vuyiseka Mali said new pipes had been installed and water supply restored in the first week of September, but the village needs more communal taps as it has grown.
In Kat-Katvallei, residents said they had been without water for four months until supply returned the day before GroundUp visited.
Resident James Daries said they had been told there was no diesel to pump water.
Resident Lithemba Geduka welcomed the return of tap water but feared it would not last.
“At least this week I won’t walk a long distance to the [Kat] river, but I know in two weeks’ time we might be back to fetching water from the river,” he said.
In Cweru village, Middledrift, residents want answers abou an unfinished project meant to supply the upper parts of the village with water from the Qawuka River. The project began in 2023.
Community leader Nomfuneko Tamba said the contractor left in early 2024, leaving some pipes behind. She said residents had repeatedly contacted ADM but received no explanation.
On 16 October, KwaMaqoma residents protested about the water situation by blocking the road to Gqeberha.
In a public notice issued on Monday, ADM said a specialist contractor to repair and replace filters at the Fort Beaufort water treatment works had been appointed, had arrived on site and work was underway.
Water deliveries by tanker would continue until the filter problems were resolved.
On Thursday, ADM said water supply had been restored, but rationing would remain in place because demand in KwaMaqoma exceeded the capacity of the existing treatment works.
At the time of publication ADM had not responded to our questions about the residents’ complaints sent two weeks ago.