Municipality uses wooden stick in leaking main water pipe to ‘fix it’

Photos of a leak in a main supply pipe for water in the Musina municipality were circulated by the DA on Wednesday.

The party said they’d come across the makeshift repair while doing an oversight inspection in the Limpopo town and wrote to the mayor, Mihloti Muhlope, to ask her to fix the many broken and leaking water pipes around Musina, especially in Nancefield Township.

Councillor Elliot Magwira said the DA had noticed that the main water pipe that supplies all the residents of Musina was leaking and a piece of wood had been used to “seal” the leak. However, it was still losing a constant spray of water.

Picture: Democratic Alliance

“The DA can also confirm that the pipe situated next to Nancefield cemetery has been leaking for over five months and nothing has been done to fix it,” said Magwira.

“Water gushing out of the leaking pipes is now flowing on the streets and creating puddles that have become a health hazard for residents of Nancefield.

“The DA is concerned that the failure to fix the leaking pipes could lead to a possible outbreak of water-borne diseases that can spread quickly in the densely populated area.”

He said that, last month, the residents of Shakadza village in Ward 11, Nancefield, Extension 8, and in Ward 5 and 6 outside Musina barricaded roads with burning tyres in protest against water shortages in their villages.

“The residents in these villages have been without water for over a year, even as water is being wasted on the streets.”

He said they would escalate the problem to the Green Scorpions if Muhlope didn’t fix all the leaks within seven days.

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