The water smells like eggs
Sbongile Mnyaka
Before school, 7-year-old Aphiwe watches his mom, Khanyo, boil Mbabane River water twice. It still smells like rotten eggs. They can’t afford bottled water, so Aphiwe drinks it and misses school with stomach cramps.
In Kaslvlagte, taps run brown 3-4 days a week. When they do run, the water turns yellowish. “Our clothes come out dirtier than when they went in. The kettle gets black stuff at the bottom,” Khanyo says. A 20L bottle costs R25. That’s R150/week for one family.
Community Water Scan testing shows the problem is n’t one-off:
Date | Source | Result
26 May 2026 | Mbabane River | Black / E.coli positive
26 May 2026 | Kaslvlagte Tap | Not recorded
09 Jun 2026 | Borehole | Black / E.coli positive
09 Jun 2026 | Community Jojo Tank | Yellow / No E.coli detected
09 Jun 2026 | Mbabane Primary School | Black / E.coli positive
Community tests on 26 May showed the Mbabane River ran black. On 09 June, borehole water also tested black, while the community Jojo tank came back yellow. Mbabane Primary School tested black the same day. That gives a 2-week arc: river failing, then borehole/school still failing, but Jojo tank holding clean.
At the Kaslvlagte clinic, Sister Dudu says she’s seeing 45 cases of diarrhea and skin rashes in kids under 5 this May, vs 20 cases last May. “Parents bring kids in with rashes on their legs. They bathe in the river because the taps are dry,” she says.
uThukela District Municipality upgraded the plant in 2023 and says water meets SANS 241 standards. Residents say pipes leak raw sewage into the river upstream.
