People from all over the country are experiencing a lack of basic service delivery, including the provision of clean running water. In the Vhembe District, many communities from deep rural areas depend on rivers and streams for drinking water.
The villagers at Tswera are among them. Those who cannot afford to drill boreholes at their houses, still collect their water from the Tshiswavhathu River, where they share even their drinking water with the animals. Because of the additional problem of load shedding, women and young girls spend their weekends collecting firewood up in the local mountain, where encounters with dangerous snakes often cannot be avoided.
After realising the direness of their situation, Mr Edzisani Frederick Silima, who grew up in Tswera village and is now the managing director of a water-purification company in Thohoyandou, decided to help the local primary school children and members of the community with clean water.
Silima installed several big pipes and water filters at the Tshiswavhathu River, right at the top of the mountain, as well as at Tswera Primary School, so that the villagers and children always have clean drinking water, no matter how poor they are.
"As I grew up in this village, it pained me to see my own brothers, sisters and the aged drinking the dirty water from the river. We live under a democratically elected government, yet it is failing to provide basic services to our people. I am calling on other businesspeople in Limpopo to help our poor communities with clean water. I am also calling on our own well-off families to help the poor with solar panels, as our people are walking around in snake-infested bushes, looking for firewood to prepare meals and boil water," he said.
One of the members on the school governing body, Mr Mulalo Nekhavhambe, said the villagers were very grateful for the help they were getting from Silima. "We really thank God for bringing Mr Silima back to our village to help us. Our children at the school are now drinking clean water," he said.
Those who would like to help make a change can contact Silima on 082 766 7662.