“Where is our water?”

Service delivery protests and labour strikes have become the norm in South Africa.

Some of these protests are becoming violent and come at a cost; in some cases, the loss of lives and the destruction of property. These types of protests usually took place in townships, however, and were mostly unheard of in rural areas.

Of late, they have also been spreading to rural villages, where residents are tired of being denied essential and basic services.

One such community is the Mutoti community in Thohoyandou. The community is just a stone's throw from the long-completed multibillion-rand Nandoni Dam in the Vhembe District. The dam was completed in 2006, but the Mutoti community and surrounding villages still have to taste a drop of water from the dam.

Many promises have been made, which came from even some of the highest offices in the country. Ministers have visited this dam, trying to figure out what is delaying the provision of water to local communities, and more especially those next to the dam. Many left the area after promising to do something about their situation, but the communities continue to go thirsty.

This has not gone down well with local residents. Now the more than 400 families from three adjacent villages have decided that enough is enough. On Monday, they blockaded the main road from Thohoyandou to Malamulele just next to the dam, and traffic from Malamulele to Thohoyandou had to make the long journey via Basani. Many could not make it in time for work as the road remained closed the whole day. Even workers from the Department of Water Affairs could not go out for work as their base was barricaded and their trucks could not go out.

Officials from the Thulamela and Vhembe municipalities and those from Water Affairs arrived at the scene, but were not given an audience. They could be seen having their meeting not far from the protestors, who had made it clear they would not tolerate any official other than the mayor of Thulamela, Cllr Grace Mahosi. They claim she and her councillor owed them an explanation as to why they were not getting water, even though they were just at the gate of the dam.

Community leader Jackson Modisapudi said they had done all in their power to follow protocol, but they had received no help. He said they arrived at the road in the early hours of the morning and were not prepared to leave the area until Mayor Mahosi had addressed them. “'We have written letters, we have visited offices and even met ministers, but we continue to go without water. Some of the surrounding villages are getting water from our place,” said Modisapudi.

He added that they had been promised a borehole and that three months had passed with nothing happening in their area. They also demanded that municipal water tankers should fill their reservoir with water, rather than for water tankers to be brought to the village. ''Water is life and without water there is no life. We do not have even a drop here, and sometimes our people are forced to cross the busy main road to go looking for water. Our lives have come to a standstill,'' said Modisapudi.

People living next to the dam have been experiencing problems for a long time. They have raised their plight at different platforms, including meeting the then Public Protector, Lawrence Mushwana, as well as a delegation from the national council of provinces, which visited the area on a fact-finding mission.

The Vhembe District municipality, in conjunction with the Limpopo provincial government, said they had requested more than half-a-billion rand from the national treasury to complete the project, after the inferior pipes used by a contractor burst.

The previous contractor was paid nearly that sum for shoddy work. Government has chosen the litigation route, which has been going on for a long time now.

During her visit to the Vhembe region, ANC national chairperson Baleka Mbete compared the dam to a nice holiday resort in Mauritius, but said she was disappointed that the local people were not drinking water from the dam.

The issue of the Nandoni Dam has become a thorny matter for the local municipalities, provincial government and national department, with no one seeming to have an answer as to what is happening. At all community meetings, the issue of water is at the top of all agendas.

Local communities recently raised the matter with Minister of Cooperative Governance Richard Baloyi during an imbizo at Malamulele.

Meanwhile, residents say they are buying water from the same Nandoni Dam at R2 per 25 litres from people who have pipes in adjacent villages. Some claim that they use the same water twice to wash themselves in order to save money.

At the time of going to press, protesters had given the municipality time “to fix up its mess”, with the promise of a prolonged strike that would see everything in the area coming to a standstill.

Vhembe District Municipality spokesperson Matodzi Ralushai said they knew about the plight of the people at Mutoti. "We are busy laying a pipe from the purification plant that will take water to the village. These people have a point. Water cannot be used in far-away villages while they who are living next to the dam having nothing to drink. We are also going to install a borehole which will supplement the water from the dam as an interim measure. As you know, we have big construction taking place in the area,” said Ralushai.

He said they had also dispatched tankers to the village, which will serve as an temporary intervention. "We are happy the situation is back to normal and our constructors have been given space to work," said Ralushai.

Date:10 September 2012

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

Read: 3422