POLOKWANE – Residents of Seshego have come to a point of ‘enough is enough’ over the continued challenge of inconsistent water supply.
Locals are familiar with this challenge, with some areas having no water supply for days on end – a situation that started years ago already.
Now, Seshego residents want President, Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene.
According to the chairperson of Seshego Community Against Crime and Gangsterism (Scacag), Vincent Kunutu the group is awaiting feedback after a letter was sent last Wednesday.
“Last week alone, Seshego was without water for five days and although water tankers were deployed, it simply wasn’t enough to sustain the entire community. It was really bad. Businesses had to close because the water situation wasn’t conducive to running a business,” he said.
Kunutu added that they don’t want to be caught in the blame-shifting game between the Polokwane Municipality and Lepelle Northern Water.
“We don’t want to get involved in their politics. We are consumers who pay our taxes to the municipality and that is where we expect to receive our water from. We just want water.”
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Polokwane Municipality spokesperson Thipa Selala, told BONUS that Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) had a planned water shutdown for last Tuesday, which lasted for 24 hours to repair a valve on the Specon pipeline and that the activity depleted water in the system.
“Upon completion last Wednesday, LNW communicated to the municipality that they are experiencing a breakdown on the same line due to failure on an electrical transformer. We have sent messages since Thursday morning to get an update from LNW and they only replied in the afternoon to say that they have fixed the transformer,” he said.
He added that even after they had repaired the transformer the municipality was not getting supply until the weekend.
Selala added that Polokwane Mayor John Mpe met with Ramaphosa and the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu over water issues within the Polokwane Municipality.
“The municipality plans to augment the current supply from LNW with boreholes, and we are also looking to obtain water from De Hoop Dam,” he said. Mchunu is currently in the province to assess the state of water and sanitation security in the province.
Today (May 28) is Mchunu’s last day in the province and will be meeting with Provincial Government and LNW as well as municipalities within the Vhembe and Mopani districts.
