READER LETTER | Water infrastructure neglect tolerated for a long time

Minister of water and sanitation Pemmy Majodina is right to say water scarcity is not so much drought related but is largely due to poor infrastructure maintenance.

My personal experience from my days working at Tembisa Hospital, was every day as you walk into the facility, there was always a huge water leakage coming from the pipes above the passage that leads to the exit of the hospital. Sometimes steam would rise from the water on the ground.

It would continue like that day and night, in full view of everyone entering the hospital. You would wonder why the hospital management would not deal with the problem by reporting it to the relevant government department.

Not far from the hospital is the Winnie Mandela township, where stinking water running in the streets was a daily occurrence. It would go on for weeks without being addressed. A lot of water was lost for nothing because the municipality did not bother to send a team to fix these water leakage problems.

There is a lot the minister will have to do to gain the cooperation of the communities because the infrastructure problems she raised have been making life hard for communities for a long time without much care from the government.

Lastly, water tank syndicates providing water to poor communities whose taps have gone dry due to infrastructure collapse are also a problem. Pay closer attention Madam Minister, and you'll see who is involved.

Cometh Dube-Makholwa, Midrand