LIMPOPO – IT will take about R500 million to replace the ageing water and sanitation infrastructure to solve the water predicament in the rural villages located in the Mopani District Municipality.
The infrastructure, which was installed over 50 years ago by the former Bantustan government of Gazankulu homeland, comprises asbestos pipes which continuously burst and leak.
The situation is compounded by cable theft and illegal connections, among others. Mayor Nkakareng Rakgoale says due to the dryness of the region it is not guaranteed that when you drill a borehole, you will definitely find groundwater. In view of the recurring theft of electric cables, the district municipality’s acting municipal manager Nare Ngoepe revealed that plans are afoot to hire a security company that will be deployed at water stations.
Ngoepe said the municipality is paying a lot of money in repairing damaged pumps and stolen cables by community members.
The scarcity of water is one of the major service delivery concerns among residents of Giyani and surrounding villages, despite millions of rand spent to alleviate the problem in the area. Despite a water scheme that has been added to ease the stressful water shortage, the problem still persists.
The augmented water scheme was launched by the president, Jacob Zuma last year to assist the local communities.
The 36 million litre Giyani regional water scheme has been in existence for over 40 years, but it has now reached its lifespan.
The water scheme was designed to give 56 villages portable water on a daily basis.
Over the past five years, the national government has allocated millions to the district municipality to improve the water provision in the area but all in vain.
The R170 million projects to draw water from Nandoni dam outside Thohoyandou to Nsami dam in Giyani has also stalled.
This and other problems have prompted water affairs minister Nomvula Mokonyane to withdraw the water services authority from Mopani district to Lepelle Northern Water. The challenge of water shortage affects most parts of the province, especially the rural areas.
