Residents of Bokisi, near Elim, continue to face a severe water scarcity despite the drilling of two boreholes two years ago by the TOPISA Education, Sports, and Cultural Trust. On Saturday, 18 May, the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, David Mahlobo, attended the handover of the project. However, nearly half of the village's 700 households still receive water only three times a week.
For the other half, desperation leads them down different paths, with some resorting to purchasing water from those who drilled their own boreholes, paying R2 per container of water. Others are forced to brave the risks of using unclean water from nearby streams for bathing and washing clothes. Bokisi village, established in 2016, reportedly had no boreholes until they sought assistance from the TOPISA Trust.
The installation of two boreholes with two 20,000-litre tanks was meant to ease the water shortage, which unfortunately was not the case. Speaking to Limpopo Mirror, a resident, Ms Jane Khosa (50), who is living with gout disease, said that she struggled to travel to fetch water as they were not getting a constant supply.
"Sometimes we only get water once per month, which forces us to travel a distance to buy water, and for someone like me at my age, it's hard. Each month we pay R10 for electricity to pump water to the tanks, but we get little water, which doesn't even fill a water drum of 210 litres. Yes, we appreciate the boreholes, but the water is not enough for all of us," she said.
Mr Mafemani Makhubele, spokesperson for the Bokisi Traditional Council, said that the water from those tanks also does not have enough pressure to reach other places, which is a big concern. "We have another village around Bokisi that does not have water at all. We have asked the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) to provide us with water tankers, but they only provide them during weekends sometimes. We are calling on the government to add more tanks and also drill additional boreholes," said Makhubele.
TOPISA Trust chairperson Dr David Masondo said that they were aware that the two boreholes were not sufficient for the entire community. "But we are continuing to raise funds to make sure that even those who are not getting water at all are catered for," Masondo said.
Mahlobo said the trust was committed to ensuring the drilling of additional boreholes, along with the provision of water tankers and stands. "There is an intervention to revive the Nandoni Dam project, which would involve laying pipelines to reach this area, so these communities would not be left behind," Mahlobo said.
When asked about the inconsistency in providing water tankers, Mr Matodzi Ralushai, VDM spokesperson, said that a high demand for water-truck interventions existed throughout the district.