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Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan sent an envoy to Louis Trichardt on 3 December to launch investigations into the water position. From left to right are Mr Sandile Ndlovu,  COGTA senior manager responsible for municipal services and tariffs, and Mr Wally Schultz, the local chairperson of civil rights organisation AfriForum.

Minister Gordhan takes note of water crisis

Date: 12 December 2014 By: Linda van der Westhuizen

Residents might just be getting their hopes up after Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister Pravin Gordhan sent an envoy to Louis Trichardt on 3 December to launch investigations into the town’s water position.

Gordhan strongly supports the government’s “back to basics” strategy to turn around at least two thirds of the municipalities in the country over the next two years. Residents, who already have to endure load shedding, would certainly agree that access to water is one of the very basic human rights.

Mr Sandile Ndlovu,  COGTA senior manager responsible for municipal services and tariffs, visited Mr Wally Schultz, the local chairperson of AfriForum. Ndlovu was sent in response to a letter that Schultz wrote to the minister on 17 October. His letter was entitled “Maladministration and incompetence the cause of permanent water problems in Louis Trichardt”.

Schultz said that the implementation of the water action plan used to progress slowly but steadily under the leadership of Mr Masala Makumule, the former municipal manager of the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM). “The prospect for the completion of the water plan was so promising that we actually called out a water victory. Inexplicably, Mr Makumule was removed from office, whereafter matters took a dramatic turn for the worse. Under the lack of leadership … the plans to restore water to our town have floundered and ground to a halt,” Schultz said. AfriForum obtained two High Court orders against the VDM to ensure a sustainable water supply to town.

Ndlovu described the meeting with Schultz as very positive. “COGTA assists municipalities in resolving challenges, so that ‘tomorrow’ the municipality can deliver water without us. My first step was to get clarity on the issues raised in the letter and the next step would be to engage with the municipality. Upon my interaction with Mr Schultz I was made aware that there is a water action plan. We need to find the status, progress and implementation of the plan. If not implemented, we need to find where the challenges are and how we can assist in resolving the challenges,” Ndlovu said.

VDM spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai said on 5 December that the three new boreholes at Mowkop reservoir had not yet been drilled due to unfinished engagements with Komatiland. Regarding Mr Makumule’s suspension as municipal manager, Ralushai said: “Makumule was an employee of Council and as he has resigned, the matter no longer requires the municipality to issue a public statement.”

Since the faltering of the implementation of the final stages of the water plan was closely linked to leadership and management skills, Ndlovu said that COGTA would look at the leadership issues. “Because we are a coordinating department, we also have the competency to investigate corruption or, if the competency does not exist inside COGTA, we will get the relevant sister department to come and assist. Suffice it to say, we now have the letter, which is the basis of our investigation,” Ndlovu said. He added that Gordhan takes the restoration of confidence in government services very seriously. “Part of the reason why I’m here is to build that confidence ... because if people write to the government and two months go by without any acknowledgement or without any action being taken, then tomorrow, instead of writing, they go either to the courts, if they can afford the courts, or they go to the streets to destroy public property, and that is the last thing that we want,” Ndlovu said.

Ndlovu was not aware of what had happened to the letters of two other Limpopo towns that were sent at the same time as AfriForum Louis Trichardt’s letter.

AfriForum’s Limpopo coordinator, Mr Morné Mostert, said that their Mookgopong and Phalaborwa branches had not yet received feedback. Mostert responded very positively to the visit to Louis Trichardt from the national COGTA office. “This is phenomenal. Now the Louis Trichardt water supply will not only be monitored from our civic organisation’s side but also from the side of the national government. On the whole it is a good sign, indicating that the national government is serious to follow up on the lack of service delivery. On the other hand, when the national government has to intervene at municipal level, it shows in what condition the service delivery of municipalities is,” Mostert said. 

 
 
 

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Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

 
 

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