Port Alfred residents are up in arms over ongoing water cuts that started more than two weeks ago affecting East and West Bank residents in the main.
The unstable and erratic water supply from the municipality has deteriorated to such a degree that residents angered by the situation, have signed a petition demanding action.
One of the affected West Bank residents, Angelique McAdam, who has spearheaded the petition, was a participant in a meeting with high-ranking Ndlambe municipality infrastructure department officials on Friday last week. Present at the meeting convened to discuss and interrogate the water cuts were DA’s Ward 10 councillor, Nadine Haynes, the municipality’s infrastructure director Noluthando Viti, water manager, Kudakwashe Sanyamandwe and three other residents.
According to McAdam, notable absentees were municipal manager, Rolly Dumezweni, and mayor Khuluwa Ncamiso.
McAdam, a fierce campaigner for civil society rights, had lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission saying not having proper access to water violated the human rights of residents.
McAdam earlier this year approached the national department of water and sanitation to call upon it to investigate the water cuts.
Talk of the Town is in possession of correspondence from national director of department of water and sanitation, Dr Sean Phillips, stating that the department (with municipality officials) did an investigation of Port Alfred’s water resources and delivery components on August 28 2025.
“The outcome of the investigation showed that there is sufficient raw water supply to suffice the current water demand of Port Alfred,” Phillips said.
The letter says however, the municipality was facing several challenges to constantly deliver sufficient water among them being, vandalism, aging infrastructure, pump failures, pipe leaks and pipe breakages.
“People have to fill up tanks or buy water,” said McAdam. “This is so undignified, it’s taking away my children’s dignity. I am living close to the sea … but one can’t even enjoy the beach when you have no water in your house, you can’t even shower or wash yourself if you are coming back from the beach. It’s the reason why I moved here (from Johannesburg) … it’s the beach. It’s frustrating, debilitating and depressing.
“When the water is off, I can’t wash my clothes, clean my house – why must I spend additional money on a laundromat?”
Some homes under the current spate of cut offs had been without a drop of municipal water supply for more than 10 days, until water started to return at a trickle last Sunday. (December 7).
However, supply had been erratic, with water switching on and off intermittently on the East Bank and West Bank this week.
Eighty-year-old, Tim Ord, of Wesley Hill Rd is at his wits’ end. He walks with difficulty due to problems with both his knees. His wife has to negotiate a steep flight of stairs to fill up buckets with water from tanks outside their complex every time the water switches off.
“My wife has to fetch water for us at 4am in the morning and late at night,” said Ord. “Most of our tanks in our block of flats are dry anyway, in my section there are seven flats having to use tank water when there is no municipal supply – water gets used up quickly, when there’s no persistent rains, like now.
Ord shows Talk of the Town buckets of water lined up in the bath used to wash themselves down when the need arises and to flush toilets afterwards.
“So how am I feeling right now, well … I am disgusted.”
A Hards Street resident who preferred to remain anonymous, said his street was one of the hardest-hit when it came to the no water situation.
“I’m lucky when I moved in I had 15000l of tanks and now I have 25000l, and run all my water off the roof,” he said. But because we have not had enough rain since June there has been a slow decline in my tanks, and are now only at 20%. We have all the holidaymakers coming to town and it puts even more pressure on the system.
Another West Bank resident who preferred to be identified only as Glenda, said they were lucky to have rainwater tanks which were however not connected to the home. “That’s how we are coping, but if there’s no rain it doesn’t help much.”
“My husband has hernia problems and it’s difficult for me to assist him as I have a shoulder issue too. This is extremely frustrating. At the moment we try to be patient but to me there just seems to be a lack of interest from the muncipality’s side.”
A businesswoman identified only as Charisse, who runs a boat repair business in Hallier Rd, said they were keeping an eye on the situation.
“Yes we do have a few tanks as we need to wash boats, test boat engines and so on, but if your tanks run empty, what then? said Charisse.
“I said to my husband, if it carries on, I am leaving this town. We employ people locally … our money goes into Port Alfred. Who wants to invest in a town where you can’t keep the taps running?”
Another frustrated resident Daan Slabbert said the no water situation played itself out every year.
“My biggest concern is this town’s economy. I have 3000l worth of tank water and I have the resources to buy water but there are people who don’t. Ever holiday period it’s the same. My worry at the moment is that I am the “holiday destination” for extended family in December. I am going to have a full house … and at the end of the day 3000l is only going to last so far.
Ward 10 councillor the DA’s Nadine Haynes said that work had begun on Wednesday running a temporary water line between Stewart Rd and one of the hardest-hit streets in the town, Hards Street, as its elevated location sees it without water for extended periods when the Alfred Rd and Smith Street pump stations are forced to run at separate intervals due to reduced water capacity in the system.
The Ndlambe Municipality’s municipal manager, Rolly Dumezweni said via correspondence circulated on social media that department was working on restoring water supply and the situation had improved.
“The municipality would like to inform residents of East bank and West bank that we have noted a significant improvement in the water supply following the recent challenges caused by airlocks and reduced inflow from the Nemato Water Treatment Works final clear reservoir. With improved inflow (from reservoir) the municipality has switched on both pumps to help raise reservoir levels and continue to stabilise the system.”
The letter further stated that they had met with residents and the ward councillor to outline proposed solutions. “We appreciate the patience and cooperation of all residents as we work towards full system recovery.”
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, December 18, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays
