Zuma to visit B’Buckridge for Siyahlola Monitoring Programme

The President will be accompanied by a number of ministers and deputy ministers as well as the leadership of the Mpumalanga Provincial Government and local government.

The visit follows the appeal by the community in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality for government to intervene in addressing service delivery challenges facing the community, in particular water and sanitation, human settlement, roads, electricity as well as refuse removal.

Bushbuckridge faces a number of challenges including high poverty levels, crime, unemployment, service delivery backlogs and skills shortages among others.

Bushbuckridge Local Municipality is a Category B municipality that forms part of the five local municipalities of Ehlanzeni District Municipality in the Mpumalanga Province.

The municipality covers the largest population size of people of the Ehlanzeni District Municipality and 14% of the provincial population. It is renowned for its agricultural and tourism attractions. Bushbuckridge is located in the north-eastern part of Mpumalanga Province.

The municipality currently consists of 37 wards and covers part of the world-renowned Kruger National Park.

The municipal area provides the economical activities viable in the Lowveld, particularly Hazyview, Hoedspruit, Pilgrim Rest and Graskop.

The municipal area can therefore be called the gateway to the major tourism attractions in Mpumalanga and the south-eastern part of the Limpopo Province. It is however characterised by high unemployment rate and poverty.

The President will visit service delivery sites to monitor the work that has been done thus far and also determine what else more needs to be done to address the service delivery challenges faced by the people Bushbuckridge and surrounding areas.

The President will inspect progress made by the Department of Water and Sanitation, (DWS) and its water utility Rand Water in alleviating water shortages in the short and long term.

The Department of Water and Sanitation has constructed and commissioned the construction of Inyaka Dam with a storage capacity of 123 million cubic meters in 2001 at a cost of R1billion.

Subsequently construction of Inyaka Purification Water
Treatment Works commenced in 2001 and was done in phases with last phase being completed in November 2013.

After the completion of the plant, it was realised that out of the 120 211 households to benefit from the scheme, 78 500 there is still no reticulated and connected.

This has resulted in a signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in 2013 between the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Mpumalanga Provincial Government, wherein an agreement to utilise Rand Water to implement reticulation in order to fast track service delivery.

Short term plans of government:• In order to ensure that every households is reticulated, the municipality, province and DWS has planned as follows:

Provincial Human Settlements Department has provided 112 jojo tanks as an interim measure for communities with no access to water at all. A total number of 8 900 households are expected to benefit from this initiative.

o DWS has provided further R129m to cover internal bulk infrastructure which will reticulate 10 500 households.
Medium to long term plans of government

The following is being planned:

o Bulk infrastructure: Hoxane Water Treatment works is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in December 2017.

Once commissioned, the regional scheme is intended to serve 34 000 households (183 000 people) within Bushbuckridge South and 47 000 households (250 000 people) for in Nsikazi North within Mbombela Local Municipality.

o Inyaka scheme, the bulk water supply on the scheme was completed in 2013. However, it has been discovered that some villages (Mandela village) in the vicinity of the scheme do not have access to water.

Rand Water has thus been tasked to conduct a study on the distance of the bulk line that will be able to provide water to all villages that are not yet reticulated.

Furthermore the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality provides free basic electricity to 43 000 Households. According to the 2011 Census, 126,047 of the 134,197 households are electrified which equates to 94%.

However Bushbuckridge Municipal Area still has about 9.7% of the households without access to electricity, with 7.8% using candles for lighting, 1.2% relies on paraffin for energy and about 0.7% uses solar panel as source of energy.

The President will also monitor progress with regards to the delivery of other basic services by departments such as Public Works, Transport, Energy, Public Enterprises, Social Development as well as Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The President will be accompanied by a delegation of Ministers including the following:

• Minister of Water and Sanitation, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane;

• Minister for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr Jeff Radebe;

• Minister for Women, Ms Susan Shabangu;

• Minister of Communications, Ms Faith Muthambi;

• Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Pravin Gordhan;

• Minister of Energy, Ms Joemat-Pettersson;

• Minister of Health, Mr Aaron Motsoaledi;

• Minister of
Home Affairs, Mr Malusi Gigaba;

• Minister of Mineral Resources, Mr M Zwane;

• Minister of Police, Mr Nathi Nhleko;

• Minister of Public Enterprises, Ms Lynne Brown;

• Minister of Public Works, Mr Thulas Nxesi;

• Minister of Social development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini;

• Minister of State Security, Mr David Mahlobo;

• Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ms Barbara Thomson;

• Deputy Minister of Human Settlements; Ms Zou Kota-Fredericks;

• Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises, Mr Bulelani Magwanishe;

• Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga

The event will take place as follows:

Date: Friday,
06 November 2015

Time: 09h00

Venue: Thulamahashe Stadium, Bushbuckridge Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Province