Stalled Vhembe water project causes more tumult

A R54 million Limpopo bulk water project has raised more dust for the Vhembe district municipality amid allegations of community exclusion and political interference, months before the ANC regional elective conference.

Despite living adjacent to the R373.3 million Nandoni Dam, which is full after recent floods, the community of Vuwani has to compete with wild animals for dirty water in streams.

President Cyril Ramaphosa warned earlier this year that failure to complete projects in municipalities had a negative effect on the performance of many councils, leading to adverse audit outcomes.

A five-week-long investigation by The Citizen revealed that two years ago, the Vhembe district municipality entered into a contract with HTE Construction for delivery of a bulk water project in Vuwani after the area was hit by drought.

The company was appointed on a budget of R54 million for construction of the Malonga Pump Mains and Reservoirs Phase 2.

The project was expected to include an 18km pipeline for bulk water and elevated steel tanks in Nnengwekhulu, Sundani, Balangwanani, Ha-Mabidi and Malonga.

The district municipality also appointed Mont Consulting Engineers for the project. Construction commenced on 17 April, 2019 and was expected to be complete within 12 months.

But there were extensive problems with the community and the deadline was not met.

Yesterday, project steering committee chairman George Ramashia said the project came to a halt after community members in Nnengwekhulu, one of the villages supposed to benefit from the project, said reticulation had been excluded in their community.

“The villagers ran amok and gave the company and the municipality an ultimatum to sign off for reticulation in their village or face war,” said Ramashia.

“But we can safely say now that the contractor is nearing completion. We remain with the construction of two reservoirs in Nengwekhulu [to do].

“We are just worried that the project has been stopped for a long time and that this may result in the municipality incurring standing time costs.”

Attempts to get comment from the owner of HTE Construction, Humbulani Musandiwa, were unsuccessful. Allegations of political interference have also rocked the municipality, leading to the project stalling.

Municipal spokesman Mathodzi Ralushai said this year reticulation in the village was not budgeted for, but it would be included later.

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