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Residents of a village near Giyani are forced to get water from a river, while the Mopani District Municipality downplays the problem.
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Residents of Siyandhani Village in Giyani, Limpopo, run the risk of contracting diseases if they continue to drink the filthy water from the Ritavi River, which they are forced to use for survival.
They told The Citizen they last saw a drop of water coming out of their taps approximately 15 years ago.
Residents accuse municipality of ignoring water crisis
Ashwin Khoza, a resident, said they have tried everything to convince the municipality to supply them with clean water.
“We have never had water in the past 15 years, and the municipality is aware but doing nothing about it. Siyandhani comprises many villages, and most of us don’t have access to clean water. To make things worse, a municipal water tanker does not even come to rescue us; it only supplies water to the nearest village where the ANC councillor resides.”
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Khoza said some in the community are profiting from the crisis. Residents have been buying water from those who have privately installed taps in their yards.
“At home, we are five and every month we spend about R500 buying water. We buy about 750 litres three times a month, and the water vendors charge us a lot because they know that we don’t have other options. But the most terrible thing is that there are those who don’t have the money to buy, and they are forced to collect water from the Ritavi River. Remember, we are a family of five, and we use the water to drink, cook and do laundry.”
Sharing water with animals
One of those using water from the river, who agreed to speak to The Citizen but asked not to be named, said they boil the water before drinking it.
She said sometimes the water is dirty because the animals also drink there.
“We are talking about the river, not a dam, so it has not been fenced; the animals also drink there. We are at serious risk of being infected with waterborne diseases. The municipality does not give us straight answers about this problem.”
Some years ago, Giyani made headlines after the collapse of a R2.2-billion water project aimed at bringing clean water to the people.
Khatho Civils, one of the companies that was contracted to direct water from the Nsami Dam to various reservoirs around Giyani, claimed that 95% of the project was completed.
ALSO READ: Water projects worth R50bn to be constructed in Limpopo while progress on older projects stalls
Rodney Mavundza, DA councillor in Mopani District Municipality, said Mopani District Municipal Manager Tshepo Mogano must account for the failure to provide clean water to Siyandhani Village.
“The Mopani District Municipality has failed to supply water from Mapuve Water Works and to deal with the water mafia hijacking the water supply from the bulk pipes. This is largely due to the lack of bylaws to deal with those who steal water and sell it to the community,” he said.
Mopani District Municipality downplays water problem
Mopani District Municipality spokesperson Odas Ngobeni, however, said the water problem is not as widespread as the residents claim.
“The community of Siyandhani is serviced and receives water from Mapuve Water Works, which receives water from Middle-Letaba Dam. We accept that there may be limitations in that certain portions of that community may not be receiving water, particularly the new stands, and that is why we deploy water tankers to areas through the local municipality,” Ngobeni said.
He also blamed vandalism for some of the water woes.
“We have six boreholes drilled to augment water supply in that village, but all were vandalised and key components were stolen, including transformers.”
Ngobeni said Siyandhani is also set to benefit from phase two of the water reticulation part of the Giyani Water Project, which targets the next 31 villages.
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