Residents suffer as dry taps endure

At the time of our going to press on Wednesday afternoon, people were expressing the hope that the promise of the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) of delivering water to Louis Trichardt and Tshikota would not be as empty as the town’s taps have been for the past week.

The town's taps ran dry, again, last week and resident’s frustrations levels were almost tangible the past week, judging by their social-media comments. Many were just left flabbergasted at the VDM’s seemingly endless struggle to keep the water supply running amidst a failing water-supply infrastructure. This time around, vandals had caused taps to run dry.

“Electrical cables, panel boards and other equipment were stolen at the Albasini raw-water plant last night [1 December] and it has resulted in the shutdown of the Albasini water plant. Therefore, Louis Trichardt town and Tshikota will experience water shortages,” said VDM spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai in a press statement on 2 December. Extensive damage was caused and Ralushai indicated that the municipality’s technical team was already busy arranging for the re-installation of the stolen infrastructure. “Normal water supply will resume immediately after the stolen electrical equipment is installed,” said Ralushai and apologised to the public for the inconvenience caused.

But the town’s taps remained dry, much to the frustration of residents, and by Tuesday, this newspaper wanted to know what exactly was causing the delay in supplying water. Apparently, they were not only struggling with the vandalism of the water plant at Albasini. “Vandalism of the Tshikota boreholes also contributed to the water shortage experienced by the community,” said Ralushai, adding that a risk assessment was being done to improve security at key water infrastructure points. “We appeal for support in the fight against criminal elements’ targeting key service points,” said Ralushai. In the long run, Ralushai said, the water supply to Louis Trichardt would improve once the Mowkop project was completed. “However, constant maintenance is being done to address maintenance challenges in Eltivillas and other parts of town,” said Ralushai.

In response to VDM’s latest water crisis, newly elected DA councillor Pierre Smalle said that he had worked tirelessly the past week to see that the water supply was restored. “The DA communicated with the Makhado municipal mayor last week to intervene with the current water issue. Access to water and repair of water infrastructure are the responsibility of the Vhembe District Municipality. Vhembe has in the interim worked through the supply chain to source an appropriate contractor. This has taken almost a week, and we have been informed that the contractor is on site,” said Smalle on Wednesday morning. He was referring to the raw-water treatment plant at Albasini that was damaged by vandals last week.

“Our town has been without water for almost a week; other areas of town more than a week. Upon my request, Vhembe has allocated an 8000L water tanker, although not nearly sufficient, but a step in the right direction,” said Smalle. He added that he had had a meeting with the Makhado mayor and its acting director of technical services on Tuesday to discuss potential short-term solutions to help aid residents by erecting water tanks in strategic areas in town to provide short-term relief when the need arises. “It is unacceptable for Vhembe District Municipality to take so long to deal with the problem, as the Albasini pipeline is one of the major sources of water supply to Makhado,” said Smalle.

In the meantime, many started to question the timing of the acts of vandalism at key water infrastructure points, with rumours going around that some of the VDM’s own staff were sabotaging the infrastructure as part of the ANC infighting that started after the municipal election in November. Asked about the validity of these rumours, Ralushai said that responding to untested rumours and allegations it would be impossible for him.

During the course of Wednesday, residents received some good news, with Vhembe announcing that a contractor had been appointed to replace and fix the stolen and vandalised electrical infrastructure at the Albasini raw-water plant. “Pumping has also resumed at the plant, [and the] water supply will resume later in the evening,” said Ralushai. He again thanked residents of Louis Trichardt and Tshikota for their patience. “We apologise for the inconvenience caused,” he said.

News - Date: 09 December 2021

Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

Email: [email protected]