DA questions muni’s failed water project
"MORE than 500 households are forced to share three drums of water that are being supplied by the Mogalakwena Municipality once a week due to the municipality's failed R1,5 million water project," read a media statement by the DA on Tuesday afternoon.
MOKOPANE – “MORE than 500 households are forced to share three drums of water that are being supplied by the Mogalakwena Municipality once a week due to the municipality’s failed R1,5 million water project,” read a media statement by the DA on Tuesday afternoon.
The DA calls on the newly appointed mayor of the Mogalakwena Municipality, Malesela Sebatjane for his urgent intervention regarding the municipality’s failed R1,5 million water project.
“We will launch a massive petition campaign that will be signed by all the affected residents and it will be submitted to Sebatjane,” stated the DA.
The DA has also written to mayor Sebatjane to urgently probe this abandoned project that was finished two years ago, but still provides no water for residents.
According to the statement the municipality has allocated the money to install water pipes and taps for the residents of Matsogelle in ward 11, but the waterless taps were abandoned by the contractor and are now being vandalised by the residents.
Due to the municipality’s failure to monitor the project, the residents are still facing the water crisis that they have been facing all these years and are now forced to buy water.
“The failure of this water project is a clear indication that the ANC government is not serious about taking good services to our people.
“Spending R1,5 million on a project without putting monitoring measures in place is a clear waste of tax payers’ money and an abuse of power that must be investigated,” read the statement.
The DA urges the mayor to launch an investigation into the whole project to establish the reasons why it is not benefitting the intended communities and hold implicated officials accountable for the failure.
Malesela Selokela, divisional head of communication of the Mogalakwena municipality, responded to the above statement, “Rooiwaal/Matsogelle in Ward 11, never had a water project.
“Instead in 2011 there was R1,5 million and the breakdown is as follows: R500 000 for planning the 2011/12 financial year, R100 000 for implementation in the 2012/13 financial year and R200 000 for the implementation in the 2014/15 financial year.
“That is how the municipality used to plan and implement projects from the IDP community needs.”
“However, in the August 2013/14 financial year the department of cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs (CoGHSTA), and the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (CoGTA), instructed municipalities to cluster and align municipal infrastructure grand (MIG)-funded projects with our sector plans being: water master plan, waste water master plan, roads and storm water master plan, operation and maintenance master plan and water services development plan.
“When realigning the 2013/14 IDP projects with the water master plan, some projects were moved to further financial years as projects became schemes/clustered.
“Rooiwaal/Matsogelle found itself in the 2018/19 financial year based on the financial situation and realignment guided by the master plan, (a copy is available).
“Most of the villages source water from boreholes, Rooiwaal/Matsogelle experience water shortages, hence trucks deliver water three times a week.
“Only an operational budget was utilized to refurbish the existing boreholes trying to augment and increase capacity with few extension to the existing line. (Copies of the IDP are available).”
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