Yesterday, the DA in Limpopo laid criminal charges against Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) officials for their failure to provide water to Newtown residents in Makhado Ward 8.
VDM in their legislated capacity as Water Service Authority (WSA) as well as Water Service Provider (WSP) to the Makhado Local Municipality has left Newtown without water for more than 8 weeks with no communication as to when water will be restored.
During our oversight on 4 February 2025 to the Mowkop reservoir, which provides water to Newtown, we were appalled to witness how the reservoir was emptied by merely opening a valve which released millions of litres of water into the veld and streets. No mitigating efforts were made to save this water for the residents, who at the time had been without water for 6 weeks.
Desperate residents were harvesting water running down the streets in buckets to use in their homes.
Section 27 of The Constitution mandates access to water and the Water Services Act, 108 of 1997, stipulates that a consumer may not be without water for more than 7 full days per year.
VDM does not care about residents’ rights and has a flagrant disregard for our Constitution and the implementing legislation which ensures water provision.
Despite the South African Human Rights Commission’s recommendations in 2023 to VDM following and investigation in 2021, the water crisis has worsened.
The DA now laid criminal charges as we will no longer tolerate VDM’s disregard to execute their mandate to provide water; their days of acting with impunity are over.