Irate residents shut down voter registration station

Residents in Mamelodi East protesting the ongoing water crisis prevented people from registering for the 2024 elections at Ikageng community hall on the weekend.

They claimed the water problems in Ikageng ext. 3, Mahube Valley, Mamelodi East phases 3 and 4 started four years ago with low pressure to no water at all, affecting a few schools in the area.

“No voter registration will take place at Ikageng community hall before Tshwane addresses the water crisis,” they threatened.

Resident, Jack Mahlangu, said life without water was very tough and “we walk a long distance to fetch water”.

“Initially our taps ran dry or there was low pressure from 05:00 until around 21:00 and now the situation has worsened. We go days without water.”

He said residents, who are mostly elderly, were forced to walk long distances to fetch water from tankers.

“We cannot continue to live like this. At least, the tankers should deliver to every street,” said Mahlangu.

“We pay for service delivery every month with our social grant money; yet, we get nothing in return.”

The residents further blamed the illegal water connections to the Mamelodi Reservoir 4 by land invaders.

Phumzile Nhlapho said Tshwane metro knows the root of the water crisis yet fails to act.

She claimed the metro discovered that the land invaders near the reservoir were to blame for the crisis.

“The crisis has been going on for the past four years, and today we are forced to push wheelbarrows to fetch water in the mornings and afternoons.

“Tshwane removed the illegal connections, but land invaders reconnected again and the shortage was immediately evident in Mamelodi,” said Nhlapho.

Earlier this year, Tshwane announced that it had approached the courts to begin the eviction of the land invaders.

Mamelodi Sanco spokesperson, Dube Kosabo said, “Sanco has engaged with Tshwane about the situation, yet nobody has done anything about it.

“It is not going to be fair to condemn the action of our people whilst they don’t have water. We are hoping the response from Tshwane will assist in resolving the problem our people face.

“As Sanco, we call on Tshwane to act now and with speed. Our people should not have to be subjected to this appalling situation.”

Tshwane spokesperson, Selby Bokaba said the biggest problem in that area is the illegal connections the informal settlement dwellers have made to the R3 and R4 reservoirs.

“The number of those people who have invaded the land has grown exponentially, and their illegal connections to the feeder pipeline have resulted in paying customers not receiving water,” said Bokaba.

Tshwane previously disconnected the pipes but the dwellers reconnected them.

“We have made a court application to the Pretoria High Court for their eviction. That is the only solution to the problem,” he said.

Boitumelo Monaki, outreach and stakeholder liaison at Electoral Commission SA (IEC) said the commission was aware of the service delivery protest in Ikageng.

She said on November 18, locals protested poor service delivery in the area.

“They were unhappy about the water supply to the area. They then went to the Ikageng community hall where they forced our officials to close the registration point.

“The lead official closed the registration point, and opened a case of interfering with the independence of impartiality of the commission at Mamelodi East police station,” she said.

Monaki said after the community’s threats, the Letlabile High School, Bajabulile Primary School and Gatang school registration points were also closed – all in ward 16.

On November 19, the stations opened under police protection.

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