06 Jun 2017

Government is committed to providing the nation with clean and portable water, hence the construction of dams around the country.

Assistant Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Itumeleng Moipisi recently told Mathathane residents in a kgotla meeting that water was a basic human right and therefore every citizen was entitled to accesing portable water.

He said upon completion of a water pipe from Thune Dam, villages around Bobirwa would enjoy adequate water supply.

Mr Moipisi who is also Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi North was responding to the concerns by the Village Development Committee chairperson, Ms Tshenolo Tshebedi and residents that the village was faced with ‘severe’ water shortage and that water was usually only available in the early hours of the morning and late in the evening.

Ms Tshebedi told the assistant minister that despite inadequate supply they continued to pay high water bills.

She also raised a concern of having to travel long distance to Bobonong to settle water bills and requested that services be brought closer to residents.

The assistant minister stated that government had scrapped off the P20 monthly standing charge on water bills.

Mr Moipisi requested that residents be assisted with sewage draining which residents said was not adequately done.

He informed the meeting that the ministry was tasked with re-cycling water to use for irrigation to enhance food security.

Concerning allocation of plots in Mathathane, he said the last allocation was in 2011/12 due to shortage of land and that had increased back log but explained that Bobonong Sub Land Board would at some point buy fields in the in the vicinity of the village for residential plots.

Mr Moipisi further explained that the situation was made worse by fact that the area was now a planning area that required systematic land allocation and there was need to survey land before allocation.

Mr Moipisi toured Thune Dam, pipeline works and the treatment plant where the contractor promised that it would finish the pipe line from the treatment plant to Mathathane and offer residents partial water by September. ENDS