By Thabo Monyela
MARULENG- Twenty-eight years (28) of the advent of democracy, the villagers of Maruleng Local Municipality are still forced to dig holes on dry river banks to draw drinking water that usually contain tiny frogs.
The residents of Worcester and Butjana villages in Ga-Sekororo seem to have normalised the frustration of digging deep holes on the dry river banks in order to access water due to the shortage of water supply in their areas.
According to Kate Mmola, a resident of Worcester village, says they have resorted to draw water from the dry river banks, because they are not being supplied with water and those who are privileged to bore water are sometimes not willing to sell them.
For these residents to access water for household usage, they dig deep holes on the river banks and wait for an hour for the hole to be filled with water.
It was further mentioned that the water drawn from this river bank usually comes with tiny frogs and these residents would pull them out of the water before usage.
Mmola further said after they have drawn water from these holes, they cover them with stones to protect their source of water to be shared with animals.
However, she said “animals such as pigs and donkeys manage to remove the stones and access the water we use for drinking”.
EFF Mopani convener Thembi Msane said, the party is not surprised about the water scarcity in these villages, as this is how the villagers in Mopani District live with unfunctional boreholes everywhere even though the municipality has been allocated more than R60 Million in MIG funding.
Mopani District Municipality spokesperson Odas Ngobeni said, there are two boreholes in Worcester though one has a very low yield, the District Municipality has been supplying the village through water tankers, however he did admit that the water supply is not being enough.
He said the challenge in Butjana has been vandalism and theft.
“However, we have drilled two new boreholes which are awaiting energising from Eskom. In the meantime, we may need to procure generators while we wait for the Eskom process. The Mametja-Sekororo Regional Bulk Water Project should provide sustainable solution, but it has not been moving at a desired pace due to many limitations, especially around funding” the Municipal spokesperson said.
