That the Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo are losing their battle against aging water infrastructure is becoming more and more obvious daily, with no fewer than four water shutdowns to Louis Trichardt and surrounds the past week because of pipe bursts and leaks. The water situation has become dire, with scores of people queuing at communal boreholes to obtain that most basic of human rights – access to water.
At the time of our going to press, taps had been dry in Louis Trichardt and Tshikota for 11 days straight, and one only has to glance at social media posts to gauge residents' level of frustration. They are "gatvol"!
The Zoutpansberger spoke to several residents patiently waiting their turn to fill up their water tanks at the Afriforum-borehole in President Steyn Street on Wednesday morning. This borehole was established and equipped with a water storage tank in 2016 and is a true lifesaver for many. Residents can fill up here for free, but the wait is sometimes long as most who come to fill up have a 1 000-litre-plus water tank on a bakkie or trailer.
"I have been here six times the past week. Initially, I only collected water for home, but now I also have to collect water for my workplace every second day. The other evening, there were 12 vehicles in the queue waiting to fill up. I've been waiting here since 08:05 this morning. It's 09:00 now and I am still waiting," said Mr Stephan Boshoff. On average, he said, the wait in the queue is an hour-and-a-half to two hours, depending on how many people are in the queue. On Wednesday morning, he was third in line. What is causing further delays, said Boshoff, is that when the 5 000-litre tank runs dry, you have to wait about 20 minutes for it to fill up again. "This is a total nightmare!" said Boshoff.
Another Louis Trichardt resident patiently waiting his turn was Mr Rabelani Sinthumule. "We are all facing this same challenge together. I have been without water for almost two weeks now. It has been tough! We are coming here, it is overcrowded, and everybody is trying to get water," said Sinthumule. He added that he had been coming to the borehole every day for the past two weeks. "If you come here, you have to wait. Sometimes you can't even go to work," said Sinthumule. At that stage, more and more vehicles started arriving. "If it gets packed like this, it can take up to three hours to fill you water tank … But what do you do if you need water? You wait," said Sinthumule.
According to Sinthumule, the past week's water shortage is the worst he has ever experienced. "Previously, it was only for a few days. Now it has been going for some time. The problem now is that even shops around town are coming to collect water here. The shops need to operate, so it is load after load," said Sinthumule. He even suggested that residents, since they cannot rely on the VDM for water, should donate a second water tank, so that two cars can fill up at once.
The water crisis the past week might be severe but is definitely not uncommon. In fact, this happens almost weekly. One Louis Trichardt resident who keeps track of the number of days per month she is without water is Ms Ronel Welman of Indaba flats. Judging by the frequency of pipe bursts and water leaks, her records show that January this year was a fairly good month, with the town experiencing only one week of no water, from 23 to 28 January. Then came February. By Wednesday this week, she had already recorded 16 days without water (1 to 3 February, 8 and 9 February and 13 to 23 February).
All that Vhembe technicians appear to be doing is to fix pipe bursts and water leaks. Regarding this, water supply had to be shut down on 15 February, 18 February and again on 20 February for pipe bursts. On Tuesday, the pumping of water to Louis Trichardt reportedly had to be stopped because of a leak on the supply pipeline. Asked about the situation and when residents could expect to have water again, VDM spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai just stated that their technicians were working on the problem. Ralushai was also asked whether the VDM had any long-term solution to the chronic water shortages in the area. "The long-term solution is the completion of the Makhado West Project," he said.
If the progress of the Makhado West Project is anything to go by, residents should not hold their breath that the water-supply problem will be solved soon. The project commenced in October 2014 for the supply of bulk water from Valdesia to the Mowkop reservoir in Louis Trichardt, and from there to 39 villages in the Sinthumule-Kutama area. The project's scope includes the construction of a 16,7 km gravity pipeline from Valdesia Pump Station, construction of a 7,5 mega-litre reservoir, and the raising of a 13,6 km rising main pipeline to the Mowkop reservoir. The initial date for completion was November 2017. However, because of operational challenges, the completion date was moved forward several times. During a visit to the project in September last year, the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Dikeledi Magadzi, condemned the slow progress of the project. At that stage, the new completion date was March 2022. Magadzi reduced the completion date to December 2021, however. This did not happen.
In response to the most recent water crisis in town, local Democratic Alliance (DA) ward councillor in the Makhado Municipality Pierre Smalle said that the problem was not a new one and that the DA had, over the last three/four years, lodged a complaint regarding the situation with the Human Rights Commission. "I have spoken with the advocate. He has informed me that they are waiting for a report to take the next steps," said Smalle.
Smalle said that, following numerous oversight visits to the Albasini water plant, reservoirs and small leaks all over town, he had been trying to apply pressure for better service delivery in the fixing of the leaks. "I have had two meetings with the mayor of Makhado regarding this water issue. I am going to submit a letter asking the Makhado Municipality to give attention to this service-delivery agreement they have with the VDM as I feel they [VDM] are not upholding their end of the service-delivery agreement of constantly supplying water, refurbishing pumps, pipes and attending to general maintenance," said Smalle. He stated that he had also asked for a water-shedding schedule that could accommodate both residents and businesses, to ensure that they at least had running water daily. "I have also asked for two water tankers to be provided to Louis Trichardt, and then I have also asked them to yet again provide water tanks at strategic location in town," Smalle said. He concluded that the municipalities were clearly not doing everything they could to address the water issues in town. "I will lodge another compliant with the Human Rights Commission regarding the water issue," he said.