Johannesburg – Residents of Maphata village near Dzumeri, Giyani, in Limpopo have been without water for more than eight years.
They told Sunday World that they last saw a drop of clean water out of their taps in 2012.
In the past few years, Giyani made headlines after a R2.2-billion project meant to bring clean water to the people of Giyani was botched.
One of the companies tasked to do so was Khatho Civils, which claimed that it had completed 95% of the work to direct water from Nsami Dam to various reservoirs around Giyani.
Community members alleged that in 2012, local government sent workers to purify the water, resulting in the taps running dry immediately. Since then, nothing had been done to fix the problem.
Dennise Mabunda, a community member, said the most people are forced to buy water from those who have boreholes in their yards, while bakkie owners to collect water from the neighbouring villages, where the situation is still better.
“Things are bad here. We are forced to buy water. Every month, we put aside a minimum budget of R150 to R200 just to buy water, something we were supposed to get free of charge. “Even poor families have no choice but to have a water budget. The government previously installed boreholes, but some of them are no longer functioning properly. And there were not even enough of them.
“We have tried to interact with the municipality about this issue [unavailability of water] but to no avail,” said Mabunda. Another resident, Vusi Makamu, shared the same sentiments.
“There are some residents who are collecting water from the wells and the local river for laundry. This way, they save the water that they have bought for other things.”
Another concerned resident, Churchill Mathonsi, said: “It is true that we don’t have water and some people wash their clothes at the river. This is dangerous because they might contract diseases or risk being attacked by animals.”
Water is not the only thing the community is complaining about. In a memorandum seen by Sunday World a few months ago, the residents wrote to the Greater Giyani municipality demanding the construction of a tarred road that will connect the village with other villages and to the main road.
When contacted for comment, municipal spokesperson Steven Mavunda agreed that the people of Maphata do not have water.
“On the question of water at Maphata village, we want to concede that indeed the municipality is facing a lot of challenges, not only in Maphata village, but in other villages as well. There are 95 villages within this municipality that are struggling with water,” said Mavundla.
“However, with the assistance of our district office, we installed boreholes and also use water tanks as a temporary solution.
“I have no knowledge about a request for a tarred road,” added Mavundla”.
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