By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
Residents of Lokgabeng village and neighbouring areas in Taung call on the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality to provide them with clean and drinkable water. This comes after taps dried up three weeks ago and left them penurious.
One of the residents, Masego Megalanyane said the water scarcity in their area affects their well-being. Megalanyane said, they cannot do their laundry accordingly because of the situation they find themselves in.
“We are forced to pay those who have donkey carts to go and fetch water for us. We urge the municipality to do something about the situation. The taps are dry and we do not have money to pay as mostly we are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“Imagine paying R20 per bucket, while some of us are unemployed. As a community, we have tried by all means to engage with the councillor, but we received no joy. We urge the municipality to ensure that Sedibeng Water carries out its mandate as a water provider,” she said.
Another resident, Nomvula Sokupha in Ditompong Section shared the same sentiments. Sokupha said this has a bad impact on their livelihoods as they are forced to walk miles before they could have access to clean drinkable water.
The executive mayor at the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, Motseokae Sense Maje said the municipality is aware of the situation and they are working on it.
Maje said the delays were caused by Eskom after cutting its services due to the account being in arrears.
“The municipality owes Sedibeng Water R635 million, which is historical debt. The situation cut across the region and there is a mechanism in place to resolve it.
“We were informed timeously that Eskom will cut off its services to our water sources because of the account being in arrears. However, we did intervene timeously to make sure that the situation is abated by working together with Sedibeng Water and Eskom,” he said.
Maje further said the situation was affected by load shedding and water provision was affected. He added the water reservoirs were at a low level and most systems do not have backup generators.
“We are working together with Sedibeng Water and Magalies Water to finalise the millions of rands debts owed to Sedibeng Water. There is a process where we acknowledge that we are in debt to them and this will ensure that some of their invoices are validated.
“There is an amount, which is a historical debt that was put in the books of the municipality by another authority. But we are in the process of ironing out those issues,” said Maje.
He said they have committed that the current invoices will have to be audited as a matter of urgency to ensure that, while they are addressing the arrears, these ones do not fall into the same situation of arrears that we inherited.
Meanwhile, Mchunu who visited the North West a few months this week said: “Water supply should be at the peak of the province’s service delivery and that all communities should be supplied with clean water.
“There will be a review of water boards broadly and the disestablishment of the Sedibeng Water Board, which has been servicing a bigger part of the North West. At the moment, Magalies Water has been identified as the water board that will in future supply water to the province,” Mchunu said.
The Guardian 