Polokwane Mayor addresses residents’ water frustration on Facebook
Following the announcement made by the municipality on Friday that there wouldn't be water in Polokwane due to residents taking the key of the Olifantspoort plant, residents took to a Facebook post to vent their frustrations and the Mayor replied.
POLOKWANE – After Review reported that there would be no water in Polokwane as protestors locked and left the Olifanstpoort Plant with the key, the city’s residents share the same sentiments – they are gatvol of not having water.
Read more: No water in Polokwane as residents lock and leave Olifanstpoort Plant with the key
Not having received proper comment from the Municipality, the Executive Mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng, took to Facebook to answer residents on a post on their Facebook page.
The post reported that the city’s reservoirs are sitting at 0% and mentioned that residents and businesses such as the South African Breweries and Coca Cola South Africa were suffering as a result of Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) not supplying to Polokwane.
The post also stated that Lepelle Northern Water admitted to failing the municipality in terms of water supply.
Needless to say, residents didn’t hold back, with some calling the municipality and the mayor a liar and others calling them out for incompetency.
When asked when and how LNW would be held accountable, the mayor replied saying she had written several letters to the Minister of Water and Sanitation notifying them of the problem. “…Invited the Minister in February to see the situation for himself. The Department has been notified… they must take appropriate action,” the comment read.
Replying to a resident saying she is gatvol, another resident said “Talk, talk, talk. No action. We are held hostage by our Municipality. They organise road races and all other activities, costing money, yet we don’t have water in our taps…” The Mayor responded by stating the woman needed to better understand how we receive water as citizens. “The same as electricity where Eskom generates and then municipality distributes… you will be barking the wrong tree. LNW must supply the municipality and then we reticulate. We have boreholes which gives us 20 mega liters a day and that’s not sufficient. We need Lepelle to supply,” she said.
In the comment section, the Mayor also noted that “the Polokwane Municipality does not owe LNW … not even a cent. We pay them on the 22nd of every month…”. She also noted that the Polokwane Municipality applied in 2011 and again in 2016 for water reserves but the Department of Water and Sanitation turned the application down. “Last year SAB Polokwane applied as well and was turned down. There’s no water almost every where in the province Giyani, Vhembe, Sekhukhune, Phalaborwa etc surely our licensing system must change. The situation is the same in KZN, Eastern Cape etc. Local government powers are severely limited,” she noted.
On a point made by a resident that Polokwane, Lepelle Nkumpi and Lepelle Northern Water are held ransom by the community of Lesetsi, the mayor responded by saying “unfortunately in the mind of others the municipality is creating all this. A National Key Point application was submitted for the Army to protect the plant but it has not been processed.”
The Mayor also noted that she herself had no water at home and that LNW, the Municipality and DWS were meeting again at 08:00 this morning, 29 April, to try and find a solution.
The Municipality have still not given and update regarding the reservoir levels and when water supply would return to the city.
