Residents of Ha-Mashau Doli are bubbling with excitement as they will finally have access to clean drinking water from their taps again. This follows years of struggling to fetch water from nearby rivers.
The long-awaited R18 million water project that will hopefully end their woes is expected to be completed by the end of November. This is according to the spokesperson of Vhembe District Municipality (VDM), Mr Matodzi Ralushai.
The water project was supposed to be completed in August 2020 but was repeatedly delayed. It involved the storage of water and supply to the village. The work was done by a joint venture, comprising HLTC and Splish Splash Constructions, and started in November 2019.
The residents, most of whom are unemployed, said they were fed-up with paying R1,50 to R2 for 25 litres of water from households who had drilled their own boreholes. They claimed that the only borehole to provide them with water ran on diesel, and as the VDM seldom supplied them with diesel, the pump was constantly inoperative.
Ms Salome Mathelemusa, a disabled pensioner from Mashau-Doli village, said she could not wait for the project to be finished. "It was really difficult for us to obtain water as we [have to pay for it using] our Sassa grants and the cost of living is high. I still have to pay young boys from the community with my grant money to walk all the way to fetch water for me and my husband, who is also a pensioner," she said.
One of the secretaries of the Mashau Doli Civic, Mr Edward Mpakwa, said the leadership of the community had sent altogether three letters to the VDM to request that the project manager return to the site after they had stopped working on the project for seven months. "We now have hope that our thirsty community will get water at last," he said.
Ralushai explained that the completion of the snag list was delayed because of the vandalism of some of the street taps by unknown individuals. "The constructor is finishing up the snag list. The project is anticipated to be completed by the end of November," he said.