Mentz residents are fed up having to consume “unsanitary” water
Residents here say there has not been a drop of water from their taps since five years ago, and that they have received no explanation from the Polokwane Municipality.
POLOKWANE – For the five years since 2019, the community of Mentz outside Mankweng hoards containers of water due to the fear of not knowing when the next time will be that a municipal water truck will arrive to augment their supply.
Residents here say there has not been a drop of water from their taps since five years ago, and that they have received no explanation from the Polokwane Municipality.
In images sent to BONUS by community representative David Setjie, several residents are seen on what he said was a journey of walking a few kilometres from fetching “unsanitary” water from a truck. Some were captured pushing wheelbarrows that carry containers of water while others roll theirs until presumably, they reach their households.
“The ward councillor has only helped with the call for water trucks that go weeks without supplying any water. That is why we fetch water with as many containers as we can, until the drivers limit us,” another affected resident, Mokgadi Ralekgolela said.
“The water often has soil particles at the bottom of the water containers right after we filled it from the truck. It is unsanitary,” she added.
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By Sunday evening, the municipality’s Thipa Selala had not responded to an enquiry by BONUS made last Monday relating to what the municipality is faced with in terms of its responsibility to supply running water in the area.
Demonstrations in demand for improved service delivery have proven ineffective.
In recent years, taps have run dry from these remote areas into nearby outskirts including Mankweng and Seshego and well into the city, with some spanning months with sporadic supply of running water.
So dire has the situation become that two weeks ago, residents from villages under this municipal area staged a protest and termed it a shutdown of economic activities in demand for among other things, sufficient running water from the municipality.
They also invited communities from the city and the two townships to join them.
In another march last week, the same group demanded through a memorandum that the municipality improves the supply for running water.
In the Integrated Development Plan draft budget consultation copy for 2024/25 BONUS received from Selala in March, the municipality however, consulted with residents about money to construct a water treatment works facility to augment the supply of water in the Mankweng wards, to also supplement areas such as Mentz.
It stipulated that a portion of over R77.5m would be used for this purpose.
