DA launches petition against Mogalakwena Muni

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has launched a petition against the Mogalakwena Municipality in response to the municipality’s failure to provide water to all 179 villages under its jurisdiction.
Beyers Smit, DA Constituency Head for Mogalakwena, stated in a media release that the water crisis is compounded by the water scarcity, severe heat waves and drought since October 2015. “Residents in villages such as Ga-Magongoa, Vergenoegd, Galakwena, Mapela and Mahwelereng spent the Festive Season without water. Residents are forced to purchase 25 litres of water for R20 and those who cannot afford it, share water from the river beds with animals. Consistent water supply to these areas is non-existent, taps without a drop, water deliveries by the local municipality are sporadic and boreholes are not functioning for many years,” said Smit.
The DA claims that these dire circumstances prevail despite the allocation of R5,4 million for the replacement of pipes, particularly pipes that are vulnerable to burst and for the water supply by Mogalakwena Municipality. “This is proof that our people are being neglected by this ANC government. A caring government should provide good basic services and repair when things go wrong, as the DA does where it governs. Depriving people of clean drinking water is criminal as this right is constitutionally mandated,” Smit reckoned.
Smit advised that the municipality should prioritise spending on critical infrastructure such as water and sanitation, while cutting the cost of the bloated public sector wage bill.
After obtaining signatures from the affected residents, the DA will march to the municipality and submit the petition to the Mayor for his immediate and permanent solution to the water crisis.
“The DA urges the municipality to urgently call for assistance from the Department of Water and Sanitation to provide water tankers for the residents as an interim relief measure,” Smit concluded.
Malesela Selokela, Divisional Head of Communications of the municipality, commented “It can’t be true that the community of Mogalakwena has been without a drop of water since October 2015 because the municipality is carting water (delivering with water tankers) to the affected villages twice a week. Mogalakwena is one of the fastest growing municipalities in Waterberg District and our 179 villages rely more on underground water (boreholes). We are much aware that water scarcity is a national crisis as there has been no rain. At some point drought has affected the water table level in the boreholes, this results in long pumping hours which means the community has to wait for the reservoirs to fill up before water can be released.”
According to Selokela, the supply from the usual water services provider has been constant, however the sharp increase in consumption as well as the constant high levels of heat have caused a significant drop of water levels of reservoirs, peri urban areas and villages. “We have been informed, by Lepelle Northern Water that the water level at Doorndraai Dam is below 50% while most of the boreholes that supply certain parts of Mokopane town and the townships and villages have either gone critically low or have collapsed due to drought conditions that engulfs our municipality, the province and most parts of the country,” Selokela reported and added that the situation is exacerbated by the routine high usage of water during this time of the year due to irrigation, swimming and recreational fountains.
Selokela said that the municipality has purchased four water tanker trucks to supplement the eight water tanker trucks that are already in use. “There is a need to purchase more water tanker trucks to speed up this services but that will be informed by the budget. The Mogalakwena Municipality led by Mayor Parks Sebatjane will do its outmost best to address the problem. Other medium to long term solutions are been explored by our municipality in collaboration with the water boards and the Provincial and National government,” Selokela concluded.
The DA met with Mogalakwena Mayor Parks Sebatjane last Tuesday and Smit reported that Sebatjane failed to provide a satisfactory explanation on how the continuous water crisis in 179 villages will be addressed. According to Smit, Sebatjane claimed that the crisis was beyond the municipality’s ability to handle. The DA will now proceed to lay a charge against the municipality at the Human Rights Commission.
According to Smit, the DA will further submit a motion to the Minister of Water Affairs, Nomvula Mokonyane when parliament resumes for her immediate intervention to resolve the crisis.

Story: BARRY VILJOEN
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