With 35 days left to the national and provincial elections, the Mphagani community village in the Greater Giyani Local Municipality have threatened to boycott the elections.
A resident, Cedric Maluleka, said this was due to the Mopani District Municipality's failure to implement water projects in their area.
Maluleka said the municipality has been promising to fix the community’s long standing water problem for years but nothing was forthcoming.
Maluleka said it was disingenuous for municipal officials to come to villagers and make false promises to them in order to get their votes.
“We have been promised that a water reticulation system will be built here, but we are yet to receive it. Now that it’s election time they come here with the same promises again.
“I am not sure if these people insult our intelligence because we are villagers or they just take us go fools," said Maluleka.
However, the municipality denied making such promises to the villagers.
“As the municipality we have not made such commitments to our people, but one thing we can confirm is that the community is one of the remaining 31 villages meant to receive water from the Nsami water treatment plant,” the municipality said.
The nearby villages benefiting from the water reticulation project were receiving water drawn from the Letaba River, which was a separate project from the Giyani water project, it said.
“Mphagani is currently receiving water from four out of six boreholes until phase 2 of the project is completed.“
On Tuesday, the community embarked on a protest, barricading all roads leading to several villages.
Residents claimed that the water reticulation project which was expected to start in January 2023, did not happen but was instead installed in nearby areas, particularly Zaba village -- which, according to them, were being prioritised and were benefiting from a water reticulation project.
While phase 2 of the Giyani water reticulation project is expected to start in the 2024/25 financial year, the community of Mphagani has grown impatient and has threatened to abstain from voting.
Recently Sekhukhune District Municipality acting mayor Sibongile Nkosi announced that this year’s draft budget for the 2024/25 financial year includes R16 million from Twickenham Platinum Mine, aimed at assisting with the water crisis in six Limpopo villages.
According to Nkosi, these funds would be allocated to install new boreholes, repairs and replacement of required infrastructure, and connecting to existing water reservoirs.
This happened after the municipality held a joint 2024/25 Draft Integrated Development Plan (IDP) Budget and public participation with the elderly and special groups at Mabitsi village.
During his on site visit on Tuesday, Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu said that by September, phase 1 of the water reticulation project would be ready to provide clean running water to 22 of the 55 villages in and around Giyani.
Mchunu said the project was delayed by infrastructure sabotage and vandalism.
The initial budget is said to have skyrocketed from just over R500 million to R2.1 billion. Currently the budget was forecast at R4.5 billion.
The Star