VDM councillor accused of illegal water connection at his business
Residents in the area claim the councillor has tampered with the main pipeline as they have not had water for a year.
LIMPOPO – A senior councillor of the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) is being accused of illegally connecting water to his business premises at Mhinga village.
Councillor Miyelani Chauke, a member of the VDM’s mayoral committee, now has to fend off allegations that he is benefiting from free water at the expense of many other residents.
In response, he described the allegations as a political attack, aimed at thwarting his chances to become deputy secretary of the ANC in Vhembe.
Residents of Mhinga, Boxahuku, Mayitane and Maphophe villages claim that they have not had water for a year now, since their water supply was inexplicably cut off last year. They blame the situation on Chauke, saying that he had tampered with the main pipeline and illegally made a connection to his carwash business.
One of the residents, Tinyiko Magaisa, wrote to VDM Mayor Dowelani Nenguda last week, asking him to intervene and act against his committee member.
In the letter, he states that the issue was raised with the Collins Chabane Municipality as well, but no response has been received.
In an interview earlier this week, Magaisa said that the local community had been without water for some time now.
“We reported the case of illegal water connection to VDM, but it seems they are afraid to disconnect it, because the guilty person is a councillor. This unprofessional manner in which government officials act really amazes us. So, we decided that enough is enough and informed the district municipality that we were going to cut off all illegal connections ourselves,” Magaisa said.
One of the residents at Boxahuku also reckoned that this kind of behaviour by a government official is unacceptable. “We need VDM to take action against Chauke, because he denied the community access to water,” he said.
Chauke is currently also contesting for the position of deputy secretary for the ANC in Vhembe, following the murder of the previous deputy secretary and Collins Chabane Mayor Moses Maluleke last year. Chauke is up against the current mayor of the Collins Chabane Municipality, Shadrack Maluleke, with the conference to be held in June.
In response to media enquiry, Chauke said he had paid VDM more than R6 000 to connect water to his business premises. When he was asked whether he received regular accounts from the municipality for water consumed, he said no.
Chauke said that the allegations formed part of a political agenda against him, because he was contesting for the position of deputy secretary. He added that he had since disconnected the water connection that people were complaining about.
VDM spokesperson Matodzi Ralushai said nobody was allowed to make illegal connections – not even their officials.
“VDM’s mandate will be realised when communities start to take care of water infrastructure. Constant vandalism and illegal connections affect water provision to our communities. If all stakeholders act responsibly, water challenges will be minimised,” he said.
