Vhembe water summit tackles challenges

Water Security for future growth and economic was the theme of an important water summit that was hosted by the Vhembe District Municipality in the Thohoyandou Indoor Sports Centre on Tuesday.

The executive mayor of Vhembe, Cllr Florence Radzilani, said delivery of water to the people was hampered by financial challenges, vandalism of water resources and illegal connections. She said that the Gumbani-to-Vuwani Water project was stuck because of a lack of funds from the national Department of Water and Sanitation. The Makhado West Bulk Water supply project has also been stagnant for many years.

She added that she only became aware of the challenges facing the Gumbani-Vuwani project recently when she learnt that there were budget challenges in this project, which falls under the national Department of Water and Sanitation. “I learnt that the project requires over R55 million to continue. It also came to my attention that the national department is having financial challenges. Unfortunately, we learnt about challenges facing this project after we had already concluded our budget,” said Radzilani.

Radzilani also appealed to the Office of the Premier to intervene in the matter. She said her office had written several letters to the national department with no luck.

Although the district water summit, which is held annually, is meant to address issues relating to the delivery of water, with the budget allocated specifically to address this challenge, Radzilani said it was surprising that “we are still failing to deliver water according to our target.” She also advised councillors not to sleep on the job. She said she was concerned that community members phoned senior officials in her office, raising their concerns about the lack of water in their area. This, she said, only means that councillors are not available to their communities as they are supposed to be.

“Our district is one of the driest areas in the country. Without water, business will close. This will result in job losses and an ailing economy. Our animals and plants also rely on water to survive. We also want our community to enjoy flushing toilets at schools. Fortunately, we do not have incidents of children losing their lives in pit toilets in our district. This does not mean that we are not supposed to increase water-supply projects. The good thing is that Nandoni Dam is helping in delivering water to our people,” said Radzilani.

Mr Tibatso Mabitsela from the Office of the Premier said the provincial water summit held in 2015 had revealed that the province was unlikely to achieve the water and sanitation targets. To meet the targets, Radzilani said, the community must help by protecting the available resources. She also urged communities to report vandalism of resources as it directly affected them and the municipality’s budget.

Date:15 September 2018

By: Ndivhuwo Musetha

Read: 1005