Limpopo water drought keeps borehole drillers in business

Boreholes are a thriving business in Limpopo, with many companies cashing to provide water to villages and townships across the province’s 27 municipalities.

Many municipalities turned to boreholes after their dams, rivers and fountains dried up.

One of such is the Vhembe district municipality, which has set aside millions of rands to drill, equip, test and energise boreholes in its four local municipalities.

These are Thulamela, Makhado, Musina and Collins Chabane local municipalities.

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This after some community uprisings that resulted in the blockade of the N1 road in Limpopo through to the Beitbridge Border in Musina. In his state of the district address this week, mayor Nenguda Dowelani said they had spent R712 million on borehole drilling and sanitation projects.

Dowelani said during the same period, about 1 866 jobs were created during the implementation phase of the project.

He said for the 2023-24 capital budget, the municipality had set aside R730 million for a similar course.

He added that the increased budget means an increase in job creation.

Boreholes per municipality

Mayor’s spokesperson Matodzi Ralushai said the district currently had a total of 3 650 boreholes in its four local councils.

A total of 2 895 boreholes are operational, 755 are not operating, with 224 of them vandalised and 120 decommissioned. About 217 of them are currently dry, while 131 need maintenance.

“A total of 63 boreholes are waiting to be energised by Eskom,” said Ralushai.

According to records, the district’s boreholes per municipality are as follows:

• Collins Chabane has 803, with 637 operational, 166 not working, 48 vandalised, 14 decommissioned, 52 dry, 34 in need of maintenance and 18 waiting for electrical connections.
• In Makhado, there are 1 205 boreholes and 956 of them are operational, 249 not operational, 72 vandalised, 32 decommissioned, 99 dry, 29 need maintenance and 17 waiting for electrical connections.
• Musina has 730 boreholes, 579 working while 151 not operating, 47 vandalised, 27 decommissioned, 31 dry, 30 need maintenance and 16 in need of electrical connections.
• Thulamela has 912 boreholes, with 723 functional, 189 not functioning, 57 vandalised, 47 decommissioned, 35 dry, 38 needing maintenance and 12 in need of electrical connections.

In Mopani, a borehole costs R540 000 while in other municipalities the price can be between R1.2 million to R1.8 million.

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