A resident of Majakaneng Village fills up containers with water on 3 February 2015. Picture: Gallo Images / Sowetan / Veli Nhlapo
Boreholes are a thriving business in Limpopo, with many companies cashing to provide water to villages and townships across the province’s 27 municipalities.
Many municipalities turned to boreholes after their dams, rivers and fountains dried up.
One of such is the Vhembe district municipality, which has set aside millions of rands to drill, equip, test and energise boreholes in its four local municipalities.
These are Thulamela, Makhado, Musina and Collins Chabane local municipalities.
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This after some community uprisings that resulted in the blockade of the N1 road in Limpopo through to the Beitbridge Border in Musina. In his state of the district address this week, mayor Nenguda Dowelani said they had spent R712 million on borehole drilling and sanitation projects.
Dowelani said during the same period, about 1 866 jobs were created during the implementation phase of the project.
He said for the 2023-24 capital budget, the municipality had set aside R730 million for a similar course.
He added that the increased budget means an increase in job creation.
Mayor’s spokesperson Matodzi Ralushai said the district currently had a total of 3 650 boreholes in its four local councils.
A total of 2 895 boreholes are operational, 755 are not operating, with 224 of them vandalised and 120 decommissioned. About 217 of them are currently dry, while 131 need maintenance.
“A total of 63 boreholes are waiting to be energised by Eskom,” said Ralushai.
According to records, the district’s boreholes per municipality are as follows:
In Mopani, a borehole costs R540 000 while in other municipalities the price can be between R1.2 million to R1.8 million.
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