17 Apr 2018

Dikwididi residents in the Kgatleng District have plead with Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) to attend to their water shortage problem without delay.

The residents told the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Mr Kefentse Mzwinila on April 16 in a kgotla meeting that the water crisis is of great concern as they were forced to buy water from other villages.

Minister Mzwinila said his ministry was aware of the water crisis in their area and that government was working tirelessly to arrest the situation.

He said the water shortage was worsened by the faulty Mabalane water treatment that was used to clean water from Molatedi Dam, which supplies the six river villages in Kgatleng including Dikwididi.

Mr Mzwinila decried lack of funds to repair the machines, but said government had since sourced funding and was working on signing contract and starting the project soon.  

The Minister said the problem dated back to 2017 and authorities had resorted to water bowsing  as a temporary measure to augment water shortage.

Mr Mzwinila said they had discussed the issue with the relevant stakeholders and agreed to address the situation in the current financial year.

He therefore promised the residents that by November the problem would have been solved.

Moreover, Mr Mzwinila said the completion of the project would now be determined by the contractor, who needed to make sure he completes it on the agreed time so that the water concern is addressed.

Mr Mzwinila said he would plead with the water department to make sure their bowsing trucks worked round the clock to make sure they supply all the affected areas.

On other matters, Mr Mzwinila advised residents to discuss their issues with their Member of Parliament to utilise some of the constituency funds through the LG1109 programme, which focused on village developments.

He said developments could not be all be implemented at once, but could be achieved by starting and completing them one at time.

Water Utilities Cooperation manager, Ms Yvonne Mothupi said they were aware of the challenge faced by the residents and were working on improving the situation.

She said the corporation had only one bowsing truck that supplied all the affected four villages on a daily basis and only worked until 11pm.

She said the truck was out of service as it worked all the time and tha they were working on getting it back on the road as the residents were in need of water.

Ms Mothupi said the truck was supposed to make four to five trips to one village a day, but was failing to do so because of lack of resources.

The Village Development Committee (VDC) chairperson Mr Pitso Ramocha said there was lack of communication between the residents and leaders, which lead to some problems not being addressed.

He said the WUC did not give the residents any notice of some sort that there would be no water in the village, which non-communication affected the residents in a bad way.

Furthermore, Mr Ramocha said Oodi Land Board was failing to allocate land to them as they had not returned to them to address their cry.

Dikwididi resident, Mr Motswaki Israel said although they did not have water in their village, they still received huge bills at the end of the month for water consumption.

He advised WUC to explain at all times to their clients their policies and their estimation prices, the situation he suspected was responsible for the high water bills.

Councillor for Dikwididi/Mokatse, Mr Obitseng Malesela thanked the minister for attending to the needs of the residents and  expressed hope that the situation would soon be addressed.

He said they now put their trust in him and hoped he would deliver as he promised.

Mr Malesela said the water utilities had been trying to assist, but it looked like the situation was beyond their control. He however said they would remain hopeful that the minister would assist them (WUC) to do their job. ENDS