Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Cllr Cobus Nortje.
The DA in the Rustenburg Local Municipality is concerned about resource shortages delaying the repair of burst water pipes leaving residents without water for days on end.
It is unacceptable that residents constantly experience water shortages while thousands of litres of purified water are wasted every day due to burst pipes, faulty valves, and stolen water meters.
Last Friday, Municipal workers closed a valve in a pipeline supplying East End households to bring repairs to a ruptured pipe, but they were unable to fix it since there were no spare parts available.
The following day, Obaro contacted the DA indicating that they could deliver the necessary materials, but regrettably, the municipality failed to process the purchase order. Members of the community stepped in and purchased the necessary supplies out of their own pockets which saw the restoration of water supply to nearly 3 000 affected residents.
The municipality also closed the water supply from the main supply valve, because street valves are overgrown and/or buried underground, without giving households any advance notice and failed to arrange water tankers to alleviate residents’ discomfort.
DA Councillors held several meetings with the Executive Mayor, Cllr Shiela Mabale Huma, the previous Municipal Manager, Victor Makona, and the head of the Water Unit, Mr Ole Mosoane, where we were assured that a plan would be drawn up and implemented to buy sufficient spare parts. While trying to assist residents to have water supply restored, we were informed by that although a plan is in place, there was no funding to put it into action.
The DA will write to the Mayor, the current Municipal Manager, France Mabokela, and the Head of the Water Unit, insisting that the plan be presented at the next Council meeting and it is adequately funded to ensure sufficient spare parts to respond to water leakages and burst pipes timeously.
Additionally, we will ask for water tankers to be stationed to affected areas so that residents may access water until the municipality restores the water supply.