Two million sanitation project gone down the drain because of poor workmanship

A Limpopo Municipality’s Executive mayor has terminated the contract of a service provider contracted to deliver a sanitation project because of poor workmanship. 

Now residents of Monsterlus in the Elias Motsoaledi local municipality in the Sekhukhune region are forced to hide behind shrubs and thick bushes in order to respond to the call of nature. 

The project was budget at a tune of R2 million and after the termination, at the backyards of about 30 families lies empty toilet pits, building materials and incomplete toilet slabs, which were meant to build VIP toilets for the poor. 

Aftermath

Now residents in the area are gripped by fear after a 3 year- old child recently fell into one of the empty pit-latrines, which was filled with water. The pits got full of water after the December/January torrential rains that fell in Limpopo this year. 

Contractor is nowhere to be found

“The residents have been waiting for the contractor to complete the toilets but all to no avail. When we asked the local councillor about this, he said the contractor had vanished into thin air. That is why we are panicking,” resident, Sipho Mmaboko said on Thursday. 

Mmaboko, who is also a councillor for the Elias Motsoaledi municipality in Groblersdal said most of the abandoned toilets were in ward 20 in the Monsterlus area. 

When ‘nature’ calls

 He said the project came to an abrupt halt in May, forcing locals to hide behind thick bushes and shrubs each time nature called.

“We are afraid the festive season is around the corner. This is the time we expect a lot of visitors during Christmas and New Year. If this toilets remain unfinished, we will be forced to go to the bushes, together with our visitors and this is not good not only for our health, but for the environment as well,” Mmaboko explained. 

Mmaboko claimed as a councillor, he asked for answers at the local municipality and the district without getting any answers. 

Media is a powerful tool

“That is why I ran to the media because a pen is always mightier than a sword,” added Mmaboko. 

A woman, who only introduced herself as Mmathari pleaded to the district municipality to complete the project before a life is lost. 

“We have kids and when schools close in December, they will play in the backyard. We are scared they may fall into these holes while playing” 

Speaking to The Citizen newspaper yesterday, executive mayor for the Sekhukhune district municipality, Julia Mathebe said the contractor was terminated. 

Poor workmanship

“I have terminated the services of the contractor because of poor workmanship. Our people deserve better and I could not seat and relax when the service provider wanted to give our people a substandard end-product,” said Mathebe. 

The executive mayor, who is also ANC regional chairperson in the Sekhukhune region and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) Limpopo deputy chair, said the municipality had planned to appoint another contractor to complete the project. She said the appointment would be done before the end of this financial year. 

“I know the hardship our people in Monsterlus are confronted with on daily basis. But I had to chose between quality and mediocrity. I chose quality because I have the best interest of all my people at heart,” she said.

ALSO READ: SA’s water crisis 20 years in the making