The DA will write to the Water and Sanitation Minister, Pemmy Majodina, to address water shortages and hold failing Limpopo water authorities accountable by reconsidering their water service licences.
This follows oversight in the Mopani District Municipality by Members of Parliament in the National Council of Province (NCOP) as part of Parliament’s Provincial Week oversight programme. Despite the oversight exposing glaring failures by the ANC run municipalities to provide water, this year’s programme was ironically held under the title “Building Viable Municipalities for Enhanced Delivery of Services to Communities”. View photos here, here and here.
Most of the sites inspected dealt with bulk water infrastructure and the findings were nothing short of shocking. We visited a pumping station built 25 years ago which, according to officials, only operated for six months. Even worse, we inspected the Tzaneen catchment dam, the primary water source for most of the town, where the low-level dam wall built in 1963 has never been upgraded.
It is no surprise then that every night at 21:00, water supply to Tzaneen town is shut off just so reservoirs can refill. This is the daily reality for residents living under an ANC run District Municipality that has lost all political will and capacity to govern.
This is yet another example of why the ANC’s failing District Development Model (DDM) is fundamentally flawed. Service delivery responsibilities must be located as close to the people as possible. Yet when Tzaneen residents raise concerns with their local councillors they are told nothing can be done because the District Municipality is the water authority.
The crisis is not confined to Tzaneen, village after village across Mopani suffers constant water cuts. The ANC’s incompetence has created a thriving water tanker-mafia economy, where desperate residents are forced to buy water privately because the local government authorities’ ability to deliver has collapsed.
Reliable clean water has become scarce, instead of prioritising basic services, ANC run municipalities pour millions into events, celebrations and roadshows, while taps run dry and tankers make fortunes from human desperation. This is not a water shortage, it is a leadership shortage.
With the Local Government Elections approaching, the DA will continue to fight to restore basic services, restore accountability, and restore dignity. Limpopo cannot continue to suffer under failed ANC rule, especially at local government level.