Last week, as the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) celebrated National Water Week, residents in and around Louis Trichardt ironically found themselves with little to no water in their taps once more.
On Thursday, VDM mayor Cllr Florence Radzilani conducted a local Water Week awareness campaign at an event held at Vhufuli Village near Thohoyandou. The campaign served as a mechanism to reiterate the value of water, the need for sustainable management thereof and the role water plays in eradicating poverty and underdevelopment in South Africa.
Residents had to do without water during the event, however. In fact, residents had to kick off their Human Right's Day celebrations on Wednesday with the news that no water was to be had.
According to the Democratic Alliance (DA), the latest water shortage occurred because of the VDM's defaulting on their electricity account with the Makhado Municipality, to the amount of R23 million. This allegedly forced the Makhado Municipality to take drastic measures and cut off the electricity supply that the VDM needed to deliver water effectively to Louis Trichardt.
The cuts resulted in residents' having to cope without electricity or water as five boreholes in Tshikwarane, Kutama Sinthumule and Elim Waterval, pump stations, as well as sewerage plants, were affected. Only after the local DA councillors had intervened was the electricity supply turned back on by Makhado and residents had access to water late on Wednesday afternoon.
In addition, it would seem that the VDM and its disgruntled employees had not laid their "labour dispute" to bed.
Residents living in the Kiepersol Complex in Devenish Street were furious when their water shortages continued for the whole weekend. Upon reporting the matter, the residents learned that the VDM employees were still in dispute with the VDM concerning overtime pay that they had not received. As a result, residents' water supply was turned off in protest.
Residents were left with a sense of déjà vu, as this is almost exactly what transpired earlier this year in February.
Employees working at the electricity department, stationed in the municipal area of the Makhado Municipality, demanded their overtime pay-outs, which saw them going on a go-slow strike action. Residents were left without water for nearly a week.
At the time, the VDM indicated that they did not consider the matter [sabotaging the town's water supply] as criminal but rather as a labour dispute between the employer and employees.
In the meantime, the DA announced that they had acted and had written an urgent plea to the provincial MEC for Cooperative Governance, Jerry Ndou, to immediately probe what they regard as the VDM's dismal financial management.
"The DA believes that cutting off electricity due to non-payment by a government entity on a day when human rights are to be celebrated and not be infringed upon, is totally unacceptable and violates the rights of Vhembe District residents as enshrined in the Constitution," said the DA's MPL, Jacques Smalle, this week.