On Thursday, 6 July, the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) handed over the Xikundu/Mhinga water reticulation projects to three clusters from around Mhinga and Xikundu. The contractors, who started work immediately, are expected to complete their work by 6 June 2024.
Hosi Xilungwa Mhinga, one of the traditional leaders from Malamulele, said his communities' taps had been dry since 2009. "We are happy that the district has handed the water projects over to the contractors, but we are worried about all the unfinished water projects that left communities without clean running water. We are also worried that we still don't have functioning sewer systems, which pose a health hazard to our communities," he said.
The VDM's project manager for the Xikundu/Mhinga Water Reticulation Projects, Mr. Lesly Budeli, said the projects involved water-reticulation pipelines, the installation of 304 standpipes, and the rehabilitation of the existing boreholes. Budeli promised that he and his team would work hard to ensure that the water projects were completed on time and that, hopefully, the water challenges around the Xikundu and Mhinga communities would then be a thing of the past.
The VDM's executive mayor, Dowelani Nenguda, said they would not tolerate shoddy work from the contractors and that they were fighting hard to address illegal water connections that, according to him, caused a setback in service delivery.