Ohrigstad residents struggle to access water
The residents said the water issues in the town have led to some families relocating.
Ohrigstads residents continue to experience water shortages around the town and its neighbouring communities within Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality’s Ward 1.
They spent the past weekend without water. “We continuously experience shortages in Ohrigstad. It’s been three days without water,” said a concerned resident.
Another community resident added, “It’s so bad. We encounter water problems and load-shedding all at once. The tankers from Sekhukhune District Municipality [SDM] are unreliable. On some days they deliver water and on others they don’t.”
During a recent visit to the area, this publication spotted some of the leaking pipes. The newspaper sent queries to the SDM communication team.
“SDM has outsourced the function of providing water to Ohrigstad to Lepelle Northern Water [LNW]. The information from LNW indicates that they had a pipe burst at the reservoir that was fixed on Saturday. On Monday, when they checked to see whether the water was still flowing, they learnt that the pressure was very low. They promised to establish the root cause of the problem on Tuesday. As the municipality, we are working with LNW to remedy the unfortunate situation. We are optimistic that it will be urgently addressed,” said SDM’s spokesperson, Kgetjepe Maredi.
On May 13, Maredi said some of their Ohrigstad challenges were that the municipality supplies the town with water from a privately owned borehole.
“The SDM inherited the contract from the former Greater Tubatse Local Municipality as part of an assets and infrastructure transfer when the municipality was accorded the water service rights in July 2002. SDM tried on several occasions to drill a borehole in this area, but without success. The municipality has been unable to find its own underground water source, but talks to expropriate the farm where the borehole is located are ongoing.”
Meanwhile, the Socialist Agenda of Dispossessed Africans’ Aubrey Ngwatle accused the SDM of failing to carry out its mandate of supplying clean water. “It’s the responsibility of the municipality to bring basic services to the people.”
