They source their water from a well that is deep in the forest and their efforts to engage with council on water supply from GLM fell on deaf ears.
Democratic Alliance political head in Greater Letaba Municipality, Suzan Phala and PR Councillor Timothy Maluleke visited the area recently.
“It is disheartening that our grandparents, women, kids and our young girls in the village queue for hours to get water from a poorly open well that is in dense vegetation.
Women sleep there in line to draw water from the well and this is highly unsafe because of the possibility of being raped or attacked. Children are also affected as their learning suffers as a result of spending their nights sleeping in line for water and carrying heavy full buckets of water,” said Phala. She added that the location of the well and the fact that it is an open well makes the water fetching unsafe as, people run the risk of getting hurt or falling into the well. The water does not seem fit for human consumption either.
“The villagers in Makaba village are one of the forgotten people of our province under the ANC led government, this is not a good story at all.
The villagers feel let down by the government as the taps around the village have run dry and the water tanks are left dry and do not work, except when the elections are around the corner. There is a municipality truck with a water tank but it passes them to supply other villages. We will approach the South African Human Rights Commission SAHRC and lay a complaint,” Phala said.
She said people have been let down by a government that does not care for its people and they must vote for change on August 3 to turn their situation around.
“Where other political parties govern, people receive clean water,” concluded Phala.
Mopani District Municipality, Spokesperson, Neil Shikwambana said they were unaware of the matter. By the time of going to press he wanted to discuss the matter with the ward councillor.
