Lepelle to inject R9 billion to alleviate Lim’s water shortages
Lepelle Northern Water will inject R9 billion in a bid to address the chronic water shortages in the province's five regions.
LIMPOPO – The board, which is the implementing agent for the Department of Water and Sanitation, said recently the money would be channeled to augmenting poor water schemes in the province.
Capricorn, Waterberg, Vhembe, Sekhukhune, and Mopani have all been experiencing water shortages since 2000.
In 2002, former president Thabo Mbeki identified Sekhukhune as a nodal point of development where government was entrusted to unleash optimal resources to address water scarcity.
Soon after he was elected president in 2009, President Jacob Zuma promised residents of Giyani that water shortages would soon be a thing of the past.
“But to date, there is still no drop of water in our taps,” one of the residents, Thabo Mokwele of Mamphokgo village near Mable Hall, told CV this week.
“The ANC in Limpopo secured 69% of the votes this year – down from 81% in the 2011 local government elections.
“Most of us did not go to the polls because they always make empty promises,” Mokwele said angrily.
The newly elected Chairperson of Lepelle Northern Water Board, Chief Kennedy Tshivase, said hand-in- glove with the Department of Water and Sanitation and the government of Limpopo, the agency has set aside R6 billion to address water problems in the Mopani region and related areas.
Tshivase said the region was declared a disaster area in 2009 after old water schemes collapsed indefinitely, leaving a sizable number of people dying of cholera and other waterborne diseases.
“We will soon be advertising normally for tender so that our local service providers could help reticulate areas previously hard hit by drought,” said Tshivase who has over 20-years of experience in local government.
“We have also set aside money to the tune of R3,7 billion to augment water schemes in dry areas of Sekhukhune.
“We will draw water from the Flag Boshielo and De Hoop dams as our main sources of water to realise our dream,” he said.
“There will also be a huge pipeline that is set to run from Sekhukhune to Polokwane in an effort to ensure those living around the province’s economic hub have adequate clean drinking water for everyday use,” added Tshivase.
Tshivase said that a further R500 million was set aside for the construction of purification plants in Nsami and Nandoni dams in Venda and Giyani respectively.
He said the plants would help reticulate water to over 234 villages sprawling between the Giyani and Malamulele.
The agency’s CEO, Phineas Legodi, said construction for the N’wamitwa dam in Tzaneen was also on the cards.
He said construction work was earmarked to commence in earnest early next year. Legodi said upon completion, the dam would assist farmers in the tropical paradise of the region to swell their business and produce fresh produce that competes with international markets.
According to Legodi, the province was currently rolling out a water master plan led by government intellectuals in an endeavour to finally lay water problems faced by the province to bed.
“This would help government plan accurately for the amount and type of services needed for a particular community at an articulated space of time.”
In May this year, Department of Water and Sanitation Minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, said over R60 billion was set aside to address water shortages in the rural Limpopo province between 2016 and 2021.
Mokonyane, however, cautioned communities to use water sparingly and refrain from vandalism and the ever-escalating theft of borehole equipment.
