Water shortage in South Africa forces people to travel many miles to defecate

The water shortage affecting some states in South Africa is now forcing people to travel miles just to find a working toilet. According to the News 24 website, employees at the Department of Social Development in Mpumalanga in the east of the country are having to drive 6km (4 miles) to a shopping mall in order to answer the call of nature.

The department is said to be a local office helping South Africans alleviate poverty and provide social welfare services, but staffs are complaining that the situation now  forces them to leave clients in the lurch as they go in search of lavatories.

'I kept on asking why I am not attended to and I was told that the person who has to help me went to the bathroom, as there was no water in the building,' one angry client told News 24.