While the Water Services Act states that everyone has a right to access basic water supply and sanitation services, this is not the reality for all people in South Africa.
Such is the story of learners and teachers at Mkhuzane Primary School, in the Richmond area of KwaZulu-Natal, who are continually being affected by a water crisis.
The entire school relies on rainwater and learners complain that the water isn’t clean.
In an interview, one of the learners shared:
We can’t drink water with mud. We need clean water.
As part of the learners' daily routine, before the learners commence with learning they have to fetch water from the water tank.
This water is used for drinking in classrooms, cooking for school feeding schemes and also to flush toilets.
The school relies on the Richmond Local Municipality for water and when their water tanks need a refill, they need to make a phone call for them to receive this service.
An educator from the school shared that they try to preserve their water in many ways.
