AfriForum handed over a trophy and a memorandum to Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM) on December 2. A municipal official from the mayor’s office, Lucas Mahlangu, received the Dry Tap Award.

Carved on the trophy was the message: ‘In recognition of your outstanding contribution to ensuring dry taps in the whole Govan Mbeki municipal area.’

This comes after the municipality received two awards from Rand Water at an awards ceremony held recently by Rand Water Forum. The awards were for water quality assurance and water demand management.

Jan du Plessis, chairperson of AfriForum’s Secunda branch and Hennie Bekker, AfriForum’s district coordinator for the Highveld, reckon the municipality cannot receive water-saving awards because residents do not have any water to save.

In a statement issued by GMM about the awards they received, these awards reflect the collective effort of municipal staff, leadership, stakeholders and the community to ensure water usage is kept to a minimum, making it essential for everyone to practice water conservation daily.

It further read that Rand Water and the municipality are committed to constantly providing high-quality drinking water to all its customers. The municipality wishes to encourage residents to continue implementing the water-saving tips shared.

Everyone can play a part in water security by using water wisely and sparingly through fixing leaks in their properties and reporting bulk pipeline leaks to the municipality, not leaving the tap to run while washing your face or brushing teeth, filling kettles with just enough water for the specific need, and using a bucket to wash the car.

Water is a scarce resource, and conserving water is a responsibility we all share. Bekker said it was a joke, as there was no water to save.

“The only thing this municipality is good at is telling lies, bad management and wasting resources and money,” said Bekker.

“It is so ironic that GMM owes Rand Water more than R800 million, but the entity that they owe so much money to gives them an award.”

After the mayor denied a water cut, another municipal official allegedly admitted in a Cogta meeting, that it was cut by 50% resulting in residents sitting with dry taps often.

“No process was followed by Rand Water when they cut the water. Rand Water did not publish a public notice in a local newspaper; they failed to give the community a public participation process so that the community could also give their input. They just cut the water,” said Bekker.

ALSO CHECK: Cullinan police embarks on a domestic violence awareness campaign

AfriForum got a court interdict against Govan Mbeki Municipality for cutting residents’ water supply in 2022.

The memorandum that AfriForum handed over with the trophy stated although the trophy the municipality received from Rand Water looks good on paper, the reality for Bethal residents tells a drastically different story.

It further reads: ‘Parts of Bethal have been without water since September. ‘This ongoing water crisis has left families, schools, businesses and healthcare facilities in an untenable situation, forcing many to resort to unsafe and undignified alternatives for water access.

‘This failure to provide a consistent and reliable water supply contravenes the municipality’s mandate to uphold basic services and violates our constitutional right to access clean and safe water.’

The memorandum further highlighted a lack of transparency and accountability from the municipality and stated there has been no clear communication from the municipality regarding the root cause of these water issues, nor has there been a visible effort to address them.

The failure to set up a payment plan was another issue in the memorandum. AfriForum demanded in the memorandum that the municipality immediately restore the water supply, assess and repair the infrastructure and that regular communication from the municipality must take place.

The closing statement in the memorandum read: ‘We demand the municipality prioritises the water crisis with the urgency it deserves.

ALSO CHECK: Bronkhorstspruit SAPS embarks on 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign

‘Failure to act decisively will not only worsen the plight of residents but also erode any trust we might have in the leadership of this municipality.

‘We look forward to your prompt response and meaningful action to resolve this crisis.

‘As residents, we remain steadfast in our commitment to holding the municipality accountable until these issues are adequately addressed.’

Donald Green, the spokesperson of GMM, said Rand Water has not informed them about any water throttling.

“Rand Water communicates the water challenges affecting the municipality. This relates to either high demand versus the supply or interruption for an upgrade or fixing of the pipeline,” said Green.

“The municipality is paying Rand Water as per the agreement; R6m is being paid weekly towards the Rand Water accounts.

“Although the municipality cannot honour the current account in full, GMM made a payment of R24m towards the Rand Water accounts.

“No official misled the public about the water issues. However, the municipality is experiencing water challenges because of high water demand from the water service provider.

“Some water infrastructure within the municipality is dilapidated and needs refurbishment, replacement, and upgrading.       The municipality is also addressing the backlog of water meters that need to be replaced or uplifted.

“The municipality has budgeted R 30m towards water intervention, with the intention to address water challenges, through adding additional sources of water by the drilling of boreholes, thus reducing water losses by replacing AC pipes at Evander and replacement of faulty water meters, refurbishment of vandalised reservoir roofs at eMbalenhle and Secunda to improve storage capacity and cleaning of the reservoirs to improve water quality.”

Green sent a list of projects the municipality is planning on implementing which also include the refurbishment of Secunda reservoir booster pump station. This repair is critical as the current pumps, motors and panels are vandalised and damaged.

They are also cleaning the reservoirs which will improve the water quality, pressure management at eMbalenhle Ext 15 and the replacement of water meters within the Govan Mbeki municipal area.

To support AfriForum’s fight against water supply, sign a petition by visiting https://www.artikels.afriforum.co.za/dry-tap-award/