Still no drinking water for Makwarela residents

Amid high unemployment, ever-rising food prices, and abject poverty in the country, residents of Makwarela township are up in arms against the lack of basic service delivery, such as water and sanitation. Makwarela Township is the oldest township in the former Venda Homeland. Certain sections of the township have allegedly not received water in 20 years.

The chairperson of the Thulamela Water Crisis Committee, Mr Tovhowani Seemise, said the situation of failure to deliver water in the township was so bad that some residents relieved themselves in nearby bushes whenever nature called. Residents with bakkies fetched water from nearby rivers and the Thohoyandou township, while others, who were lucky to still be working and earning an income, had boreholes in their yards. “In December, we were a bit luckier, thanks to the rain. We depended on rainwater over Christmas and the New Year.”

He further indicated that they were also not happy about the fact that one of the township’s councillors was a convicted criminal. “How do you expect a jailbird who served time for murder to serve the community?” he asked.

One of the oldest residents in Makwarela township, Ms Litshani Muthivhi, said they were living under very difficult conditions because of the water shortage. “I don’t have a pit toilet at my house, and if one person or all members of my family suffer from a stomach bug during the night, we have to use buckets to relieve ourselves, and the whole house ends up smelling like a toilet,” she said.

Seemise said even today, many people in the township were still buying water. "It is now 32 years since the dawn of democracy in this country, but the government is still failing to provide basic service delivery to the residents of Makwarela township," he said.

The Vhembe District Municipality’s spokesperson, Mr Matodzi Ralushai, responded to our media enquiry and said that the situation at Makwarela had not remained unchanged and that improvements had been made. “There was an improvement since 2023, with the completion of the Vondo water scheme upgrading to increase the water capacity to all communities. Community structures also have a role to play in protecting water infrastructure as challenges of vandalism and/or illegal connections also disrupt water supply in the area,” he said.

Date:27 January 2024

By: Victor Mukwevho

Victor Mukwevho Ne-vumbani joined the Mirror during it's inception in 1990. He joined the SABC newsroom in 1995, and was known by  listeners as "A u fhedzisela ari". He was a news editor for The Tembisan Newspaper from 2007 to 2015. He rejoined the Limpopo Mirror newspaper in June 2022 as a freelance journalist.

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