LIMPOPO – The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) visited Giyani on Wednesday to assess several ongoing and recently completed projects, where it emerged that illegal water connections and vandalism of water infrastructure remain a major challenge for the Mopani District Municipality.

Poor community consultation blamed for bypassing meters

After being briefed about the situation, the delegation leader, Regina Molokomme, raised concerns about whether community members had been properly informed about the need to pay for the service before water reticulation pipes were installed in the area.

She cited poor consultation as a possible reason, saying that the fact that people were connecting directly to the bulk line and bypassing the meters suggests they were not ready to pay for water usage. She said that more work was needed to make the community aware of the service fee.

She stressed the need to address the issue urgently and find practical solutions to protect the infrastructure.

Mopani outlines plans to enforce bylaws

Responding to the concerns, Mopani District senior technical manager Ludic Mahaye reported that the municipality had already gazetted by-laws aimed at curbing water theft and safeguarding water infrastructure.

He said Mopani was benchmarking its bylaw enforcement processes with Polokwane Municipality, which is said to have a specialised enforcement unit.

“We have gazetted bylaws by which we seek to deal with this challenge of water theft or vandalism of water infrastructure,” explained Mahaye.

He added that the training of law enforcement officers and environmental health practitioners was underway to equip them with the policing skills needed to support bylaw enforcement.

Mahaye admitted that although the process is underway, it needs to be accelerated because the scale of vandalism demands immediate action.

Greater Giyani Cllr Tiveka Mathonsi suggested that dedicated personnel be deployed in the meantime to monitor illegal connections while other processes were underway.

She recommended appointing one person per village in her ward to discourage tampering with the bulk line. Mathonsi warned that without visible monitoring, vandalism would continue because perpetrators knew no one was watching.

Homu 14A highlighted as hotspot for vandalism

One of the worst-affected areas is said to be Homu 14A, where residents reportedly used a grinder to cut through a newly tarred road to get through to the water bulk line running on the other side of the road.

The NCOP delegation is expected to compile findings and recommendations following the visit, with Mopani facing increasing pressure to tighten security around its water infrastructure and enforce its bylaws to protect critical projects.