13 Mar 2022

The recent disconnections of water supply for non-payment undertaken by Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) countrywide has reduced the water debt from P1.3 billion to P1.2 billion.
The corporation’s chief executive officer, Mr Gaselemogwe Senai revealed this during a media tour of Mmamashia and Masama wellfields on Friday.
He said though the remaining balance was still huge, he was hopeful that when government institutions started paying their water bills, the debt would go down significantly. “We do not enjoy disconnecting people water as we all know that water is life and how difficult it is to stay without water.
 I urge Batswana to fulfill their obligation by paying their water bills to avoid disconnections,” he said.
Mr Senai said water pumping and distribution was a very expensive exercise and when water bills were not settled it became difficult for the corporation to carry out its mandate.
He said in order for the corporation to distribute water to households and institutions, it needed electricity therefore WUC also had to pay Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and that could only happen when everyone fulfilled his/her obligation.
Regarding the recent water shortages, Mr Senai said the problem came about as a result of power cuts that were experienced by BPC and the situation had been normalised.
For his part, head of business centre of the North-South Carrier (NSC), Mr Kebaabetswe Mogami said the other factor that disturbed water distribution was the escalating vandalism that they experienced at the water pumping areas.
He said six of the Masama boreholes were not working as BPC cables which powered boreholes had been stolen.
Mr Mogami urged Batswana to always be on the lookout and report any act of vandalism to the corporation or the police.
The director of water resources, Mr Teddy Ditsabatho said the purpose of the tour was to take the media through the corporation's operations. He said it also wanted to provide first-hand information on the Masama project.
“Masama pipeline is functional, I am here today confirming to you that the pipeline is okay and running smoothly, unlike the assertions made by some publications that the pipeline is a flop,” he said.
Masama project was completed and delivered on time and within budget.
 He said the project had been handed to them by the contractor and it was still under defect period, which if any defaults were identified the contractor would attend to. ENDS