THE Nandoni Dam continues to be a white elephant to the communities around the Thulamela and Makhado areas, some of which have not had a supply of water since September last year.
Since the dam was completed in 2004, the communities of Mulenzhe, Dididi, Budeli, Mutoti, Khakhanwa and Mphego, have still not been supplied with running water. However, when it came to developing the dam as a picnic and rowing site, this was done almost straight away.
In the Makhado area, villages without running water include Sinthumule Kutama, Vuwani, Tshitale and Nzhelele. The residents in these villages push wheelbarrows for several kilometres to fetch water from the river and some buy water at inflated prices from those villagers, mostly business people, who have boreholes.
Segwadi Machaba from Ramantsha village in the Sinthumule area said although a shortage of water was now a general problem, the area that was hardest hit was the Sinthumule Kutama area.
He said they were angry with the municipality because of this. “We are only getting water from people who have boreholes and people are losing money every day as they have to buy the water. Those without transport have to pay more than R7 for 25 litres of water. If you fail to buy water from those who have boreholes, you have to be prepared to travel a long distance with a wheelbarrow to collect water from Ravele village where one of the shop owners provides water to the community free of charge,” Machaba said.
Mashudu Mukona from Sereni village in Tshitale said she doesn’t understand why politicians visit them to canvas for votes and promise them bread and butter, when they are still failing to provide a basic need like water. He said he was tired of empty promises made by the municipality.
He further said no water tanker had delivered water to Tshitale since 2012.
Civic Association chairperson, James Delekisa, confirmed that many people were collecting water from rivers. He said they were going to address the water crisis with the Vhembe District Municipality.
Municipal spokesperson, Matodzi Ralushai, said the crisis in some areas was caused by the theft and vandalising of water taps.
Ralushai said villages like Tshituni and Biaba had many illegal connections and this was affecting other people, who did not have water as a result.
He further said many water tankers were broken because of the poor roads around Vhembe.
