By BAKANG MOKOTO
7 December 2025- The Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Sello Seitlholo has concluded the National Sanitation Month with an oversight visit to the Tswaing Local Municipality on 3 December 2025, where he assessed urgent sanitation challenges in Sannieshof and championed key interventions to restore safe, reliable and dignified services. Seitlholo said the National Sanitation Month commemorated in the month of November, has been a country-wide drive to accelerate access to dignified sanitation, promote innovation in wastewater management and highlight the sector’s critical role in public health, environmental protection and economic development.
He further said they conducted a comprehensive inspection of the Sannieshof Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTWs), which is designed to process 770 kℓ per day, but is currently receiving inflows far beyond its capacity. Seitlholo added that this persistent overloading has resulted in severe system failures, frequent spillages and escalating environmental pollution.
“We call on both the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality and Tswaing Local Municipality, to work in earnest to turn the situation around, adding that the department will not hesitate to act where there is non-compliance or neglect. Sanitation is about dignity and each one of us deserves safe and functional services.
“When a Wastewater Treatment Plant fails, it is families who suffer. It is children who live with the consequences. The District and Local Municipalities must move with urgency to ensure that the situation changes because we will not hesitate to act and we will enforce compliance, where needed,” he said.
Seitlholo then led a community engagement session that formed the heart of the day’s programme, where residents spoke openly about their experiences, frustrations and the daily realities of living with failing sanitation. By listening directly to the community, he emphasised that meaningful solutions must be shaped by the people who are most affected.
“The engagement reaffirmed that restoring trust and improving service delivery begins with honest dialogue, genuine accountability and ensuring that communities remain central to every intervention. One of the most emotional moments of the day came when I visited a family in Sannieshof.
“The family has been caring for a teenager with disabilities while living without a toilet, forced to rely on unsafe and undignified alternatives for years. I was deeply moved by their circumstances and committed to ensuring that a Ventilated Pit (VIP) toilet will be built for the family and completed before Christmas, bringing them the dignity, safety and relief they have long deserved,” said Seitlholo.
The Guardian 