As Makhanda entered its sixth day without water on Tuesday, 22 February, the lines at the Gift of the Givers water truck snaked along streets in Makhanda as desperate mothers and grandmothers brought buckets, milk pails and any plastic containers they could find to get some water.
After a series of smaller failures throughout January, the James Kleynhans Water Treatment works pump station in Makhanda failed after its power station was flooded when a gasket blew.
“Our team tried by all means to save the situation, but unfortunately could not win,” the municipality’s statement read.
The town has struggled with continuous water outages since the beginning of January as problems cropped up at both the James Kleynhans and the Waainek water treatment works.