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The message is clear: all they want is water and nothing else.

Water-starved Tshififi residents invade VDM offices

 

Angry community members from Tshififi outside Thohoyandou caused drama at the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) offices when they blocked entrances to the main administrative offices, demanding that they be supplied with water.

This was during a protest march to the offices by Tshififi residents, who said they had been denied their basic human right to clean water by the municipality for a long time. The residents, who were also chanting slogans, handed over a memorandum of their grievances to Cllr Rapson Rambuwani, who promised to take the memo to the higher authorities.

The water problem has reached alarming proportions in the district, with many communities going without water for a long time. Not long ago, communities at Duthuni and Nzhelele took to the streets, barricading roads for water.

Tshififi Sanco leader Mr Lufuno Benedict Gomboza said the community had endured a dry spell from February 2018 to the present. "We have had enough of this municipality. Water is life and without it there is no life at all. We have tried all in our power and engaged the municipality in this regard but all in vain.”

He added that they relied on dirty river water, “where we compete with animals and vicious crocodiles”.

VDM spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai confirmed they were aware of the water problem at Tshififi. He said that they were currently busy reviving boreholes in most rural villages that had been affected by the water shortages. "I cannot give a time frame as of now as to when the boreholes would be functional, but we are still awaiting a technical report to that effect," he said.

The municipality has been given seven days to respond.

 

Cllr Rapson Rambuwani of the Vhembe district responds after receiving the memorandum from Tshififi Sanco chairperson Mr Lufuno Gomboza (right). 

 

Date:12 April 2019

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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