LOUIS TRICHARDT – For more than three weeks, Louis Trichardt and Tshikota have not had a water supply, and when there is water, it is not clean.
One resident, who spoke to Review on condition of anonymity, said the dirty water was disgusting. “It is not even water, but thick brown mud. How are we supposed to use this water?”
AfriForum Louis Trichardt chairperson, Wally Schultz, said there was a breakdown in Vhembe District Municipality’s service delivery everywhere due to the municipality being in shambles at senior level. “There is a leadership vacuum with no permanent municipal manager. To add to the leadership crisis, the technical services general manager has resigned, leaving the management team leaderless and directionless,” Schultz said.
He said AfriForum had, over the past two years, forced dramatic improvements in infrastructure and security at water installations. “We had the Vhembe District Municipality do a top-to-bottom renovation of the Albasini water treatment plant, the total refurbishment of the eight old boreholes with new pumps, palisade fencing, telemetric and camera security, full-time manned security, the linking of President Steyn Street borehole to Berg Street Reservoir and so much more done,” Schultz explained.
He further said it was a problem that AfriForum could not operate, manage and maintain the facilities. Schultz and Morné Mostert, coordinator for AfriForum Limpopo, inspected the old boreholes two weeks ago and found that not one of the boreholes was pumping. “That is what caused the water crisis in Louis Trichardt,” Schultz said.
“Our new legal action will have severe implications for the Vhembe District Municipality’s senior management, who appear to have turned their backs on their largest source of income; the residents of Louis Trichardt and Tshikota. This new water crisis, unlike the original crisis, has nothing to do with inadequate infrastructure,” he said.
By the time of going to print, Review had been unable to get comment from the Vhembe District Municipality in spite of attempting to do so several times.
