Vhembe has “plans” to address water crisis

Date: 01 April 2015 By: News Correspondent

Following an article in last week’s Zoutpansberger regarding dire water shortages here in Louis Trichardt, the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) has broken its silence about the matter.

According to VDM spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai, the water shortages were caused by leaking water pipes. He did not confirm or deny rumours that water pumps had stopped working because their electricity supply had been cut off. At the beginning of March, rumours surfaced that the Makhado Municipality had cut off the VDM’s electricity supply to the water pumps because of the VDM’s failure to pay their accounts. According to the Makhado Municipality, the cutting of VDM’s power supply was a mistake that was soon realised and rectified. They did not comment any further on the allegations of VDM accounts being in arrears.

Instead of commenting on these rumours, Matodozi opted to give an explanation regarding ageing water pipes that present a challenge for the VDM. “...but the challenge is being addressed in short- and long-term plans,” said Matodzi. He did not give any particulars about these plans. He did, however, confirm that VDM is currently replacing old pipelines that form part of the Valdezi/Mowkop reservoir projects.

Furthermore, Matdozi replied to questions put to him after a fire had broken out at Louis Trichardt Scrapyard nearly two weeks ago. He was asked whether it was acceptable for a fire station to function without water in an emergency situation, as was the case at Louis Trichardt Scrapyard.
Matodzi said that it was true that no water had been readily available in the immediate area of the crisis, but indicated that VDM had plans to prevent such things from happening in the future.

“The municipality plans to drill boreholes at the fire station to quickly respond to a crisis, even in time of water infrastructure maintenance, leakages and repairs,” said Matodzi.

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