Rose Chauke embarks on her first 10km trip to fetch water at the reservoir every day at around 03:00. Her son, Blessing, who is in Grade 8, has to accompany her before he leaves for school in the morning. They have to make four trips back and forth for Rose to have enough water for the day for cleaning, washing and cooking.
Rose lives in Madobi village in Vuwani, in the Collins Chabane Municipality. Two dysfunctional boreholes used to supply water to the 347 households, with water taps dotted around the village.
According to Thomas Mkhachwa, the community leader, the municipality took one of the borehole pumps installed at the reservoir to get fixed last year, but it has not been returned yet. The other pump was stolen about five years ago.
"This has left the community in a dire state. Most of the residents here live on child- and old-age grants. They cannot afford to keep buying water, so they have no other choice but to get up in the early morning hours in order to beat the queue at the reservoir," Mkhachwa said.
The residents who can afford it have resorted to buying water from those who own boreholes. Mkhachwa is lucky that his neighbour drilled a borehole. He pays R70 per month for water.
The community claims that the municipality has not delivered water to Madobi village once, although they promised to do so at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. "We have alerted the municipality several times, but they seem to just forget about us," said Mkhachwa.
But councillor Humbulani Mathavha denies these claims. "The municipality delivered water to the village in December last year and we are busy (providing tank water) to other villages. We will be in Madobi village in about two weeks," he said.
The municipality acknowledged the water challenges at Madobi village. According to Matodzi Ralushai, Vhembe District Municipality spokesperson, a borehole-maintenance programme is in place to energise the boreholes. He attributed the delay in refurbishment to acts of vandalism of the water infrastructure, which apparently affects the institution's budget.
Ralushai added that water tankers were provided on request to communities but, to improve water supply, the municipality was procuring additional water trucks. He also said that the responsible department was attending to Madobi residents' concerns.