Water provision takes centre stage during State of the Municipality address

Nkomazi Local Municipality’s mayor, Phindile Magagula, delivered the State of the Municipality Address at Boschfontein Community Hall on Thursday June 29.

According to Magagula, over five bulk water projects will been completed by the end of 2023, including the Naas water scheme from the from Block C treatment plant which is currently halfway, with the expenditure of R3,6m, and will completed by October 30. Magagula also alluded that the municipality is working tirelessly to fix the damage to water treatment plants which was caused by recent floods.

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“The recent floods contributed massively towards the damage of our water infrastructure which has led to a severe shortage of water in almost all the villages. We have received about R16.2m from the municipal disaster response grant for intervention measures of infrastructure damages due to the impact of the recent floods. This is a conditional grant solely to be utilised for 29 water related infrastructure that had been affected by the floods. The extension of reticulation in Ntunda and Skhwahlane is at 99% and expected to be completed this year. The extension of water reticulation at Madadeni is also at 99% and expected to be completed by the end of 2023,” said Magagula.

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In her address, the executive mayor said in their quest to ensure that Nkomazi gets back on the list of cleanest municipalities in the country, they will intensify public participation programmes and robust campaigns that will take Nkomazi back to its former glory. The municipality will also build 1 000 toilets for villages in the upcoming financial year.

“Nkomazi is very dirty and it saddens me to note that we were once rated among the cleanest municipalities in the country. This has been confirmed by the number of awards we have received in the past as the cleanest municipality both in the province and the country. In the next financial year, we will build about 1 000 toilets in various villages in Nkomazi, including Steenbok, Mbuzini, and Mbangwane. This project is budgeted at R17m and is expected to start in September.

We have set aside about R5m to buy two compactor trucks to assist in waste removal and the National Treasury has further approved R2m to purchase two tipper trucks to help against illegal dumping sites. Two other tipper trucks will be added for the Department of Infrastructure Development as R6m has also been set aside.”

The escape of lions from Lionspruit was also mentioned as a concern by the executive mayor, citing that the municipality has therefore set aside R3m to fence Lionspruit in order to prevent the lions escaping.
Another R3m has been budgeted for the fencing of cemeteries in Block C, Hectorspruit and Jeppes Reef.