MAPHAYA villagers in Jozini, northern KZN, last saw running water from their taps four years ago.
All these years, they have been stuck with dry taps and praying for water tankers to come and deliver water.
If it doesn't come, they have no choice but to get water from the dirty local dam that is slowly drying off as they endure harsh weather conditions.
But on Thursday, 28 September uMkhanyakude District Mayor Sphile Mdaka took them out of their misery as he officially handed over the water projects to them.
The projects saw 150 households getting drinkable water through their taps that have been dry for four years.
Villager Thandi Mabika (47) said they had lost hope that they would ever have water coming out of their taps.
"It feels like a dream because we had no hope that our water problems will ever be fixed. We will now have no fear of drinking water as before when we were scared of drinking water from the dam," said Thandi.
Another villager, Sifiso Khuzwayo (56), said that as much as the municipality tried to supply them with water with a tanker, it was not enough.
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"The tanker delivered water once or twice a week, and it was not enough. We had to fetch dirty water from the dam to carry us through until a water can vehicle comes again," said Sifiso.
Mdaka said the district is facing lots of water challenges, adding that they're still trying to come up with an intervention that will leave a permanent solution just like the one they handed over to the Maphaya area.
"That area has had no water because the old water scheme that was supplying them dried up four years ago. We had to bring in temporary measures to supply water to the area, which in this case was a water tanker. Last year, we made a resolution to connect the area to the bulk scheme, which will supply almost all the areas under the district," he said.
In conjunction with the Department of Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu, he said their aim is to establish water projects that will never run dry.
"We want all the projects that we handover to be a permanent solution so that people will have water every day," said Mdaka.
