AfriForum jumps in where local municipality continues to fail

Date: 03 September 2016 By: Isabel Venter

AfriForum has come forward with an ingenious plan to provide water for all.

The ever-continuing battle between the Louis Trichardt AfriForum branch and the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) is no secret. VDM’s dismal failure to provide Louis Trichardt residents with a consistent water supply led AfriForum earlier this year to taking the extraordinary step of annexing the only borehole in town that is currently linked to a reservoir.

Ever since then, AfriForum has been checking the pump station (situated in President Steyn Street) on a regular basis to ensure it remains in working order.

The Louis Trichardt branch of AfriForum made a bold move in December last year when it grew tired of the VDM’s constant failure to maintain and repair the 13 boreholes in the system. According to AfriForum, not one single borehole has worked during the past 12 months and this led to them annexing the President Steyn Street facility.

 This week, AfriForum announced that they had completed their installation of a 5 000-litre water tank at this borehole to enable them to bring relief to residents during water shortages.

“I’ve spent the better part of four years constantly helping residents get water during the intermittent water shortages in town. When the VDM water truck is not available - and that is often – I have had to load my bakkie with containers filled at our borehole and deliver them to homes of desperate residents. There have been instances where the Albasini pipeline has burst and the water supply has been shut down for up to 12 days,” explained AfriForum chairperson Mr Wally Schultz.

This new tank will be a lifesaver for specifically those residents who do not have boreholes or just a few empty containers to hold water.

The borehole is set in a small park at the northern end of President Steyn Street, with the tank installed right next to it. It was installed in such a way that the tap peeks through the fencing and can be easily accessed from the outside, without anybody having to continually stand guard to open the locks to the pump station.

Thus anybody can go fill any type of container, any time of the day, at the tank. The water tank will also always be full as it is supplied by the pump at 20 000 litres of water an hour.  

“We (AfriForum) found it unacceptable and inhuman to deny citizens of this country their most basic of constitutional rights; their right to water. This small gesture will be an oasis for residents in what we already know will be further water shutdowns in this town,” said Schultz.

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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