Limpopo premier Phophi Ramathuba says the water crisis in Polokwane is not the result of a single failure but a broader supply challenge as the city battles a sizable daily water shortfall.
“It is not an individual failure to provide water. The reality is that the entire municipality requires a staggering 174-million litres per day, yet our current sources, which are not even coming from the city, can only yield 118.15-million litres, leaving us with a significant shortfall,” said Ramathuba.
“In the urban area where the demand is 99.7-million litres per day, we’re failing to meet those needs, with available supplies falling short by nearly 13-million litres per day,” she told a media briefing on Wednesday.
Ramathuba said the statistics represented the real impact on households and businesses across the city.
“These figures are not merely numbers. They represent our families, they represent the business community and also the lives that are affected daily. We must address this urgently,” she said.
The comments come as residents and businesses in Polokwane have experienced days, and in some cases months, without potable water, with some reporting illness after consuming discoloured water.
Ramathuba said the crisis was driven by several factors, including insufficient water resources and infrastructure challenges.
She also warned that illegal electricity connections were worsening the situation as they disrupted infrastructure and operations.
Ramathuba said authorities regularly disconnect illegal connections but these were often reconnected shortly after officials leave.
“Hence we will continue to urge our communities that if we want to resolve the water challenges, we expect them to co-operate, especially on illegal connections,” she said.
She warned that arrests could follow.
“We have already raised this with the police. We will be going back to deal with those illegal connections because people are going to be arrested. When you illegally connect, you deprive others of this basic human right, which is water,” she said.
The premier said the province had agreed with bulk supplier Lepelle Northern Water that the city was not in arrears with payments.
To address the water crisis, the provincial government has established a technical “war room” to develop short- and long-term strategies to stabilise water supply.
The war room will meet every two weeks to track progress and ensure accountability. Ramathuba urged residents to conserve water and address leaks in their homes and in public buildings.
“Simple actions. Can we in our households fix that leaking tap?” she said. Provincial government will also ensure leaks are fixed within government facilities.
Ramathuba said the provincial government was prioritising Polokwane because of its central role in the province’s economy.
“If we can’t fix Polokwane, there won’t be confidence in us that we can fix other municipalities,” she said.
Deputy minister of water and sanitation David Mahlobo backed the premier’s approach, saying the city’s importance to the provincial economy made intervention necessary.
He said the national government was investing heavily in other areas of the province, including the Giyani Water Project.
“In Mopani, Giyani phase two, we are putting in an additional R3.2bn. As we speak, more than 24 villages are having water now and we are moving to the remaining villages,” he said.
One of our weaknesses is vandalism of infrastructure and corruption
— David Mahlobo, deputy minister of water and sanitation
Mahlobo also highlighted vandalism, corruption and illegal connections as key obstacles to reliable water supply.
“One of our weaknesses is vandalism of infrastructure and corruption. Water tankering we want to insource, because if it is private, the private individuals are inconsistent and they destroy our infrastructure. There are too many illegal connections,” he said.
Polokwane mayor John Mpe said the municipality and Lepelle Northern Water were now working together to resolve the crisis after previously trading blame.
Lepelle Northern Water CEO Cornelius Ruiters said the entity was strengthening monitoring and security along pipelines to reduce water losses.
“We are monitoring the pipeline and we are putting in technology to easily detect when we are losing water. We are investing in that and beefing up security to ensure that physically we can monitor,” he said.
TimesLIVE
Modiegi Mashamaite
www.timeslive.co.za
