Note to Broadcasters: Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Carin Visser.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has lodged urgent complaints with the Public Service Commission, the Public Protector, and the Human Rights Commission to investigate the total collapse of water and sanitation services in Tswaing under the watch of the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality (NMMDM). (See letters here, here, and here.)
The Executive Mayor, Cllr Khumalo Molefe, now claims the crisis will only be addressed in three weeks, a promise the community has heard far too many times before.
For years, thousands of residents across Delareyville, Sannieshof, Ottosdal and 32 surrounding villages have been denied their basic human rights to clean, reliable water and environment. Communities are forced to survive without water for days, weeks and even months, a direct violation of their Constitutional rights and an assault on their human dignity. (See oversight report here.)
Despite repeated excuses of vandalism and cable theft, the NMMDM has no credible plan to secure bulk water installations, repair leaking infrastructure, or ensure empty reservoirs are filled. Its septic tank services and wastewater treatment plants are equally dysfunctional — polluting natural resources and putting lives and livelihoods at risk.
In Sannieshof alone, the municipality removed its highest-yield boreholes, 6 and 6A, back in November 2024 and has failed to re-install them to service. Of the 12 boreholes meant to supply bulk water to over 40,000 people, only one — borehole 2 — is still operational, but it constantly trips due to a faulty cable first reported to the District and the Premier as far back as 2020.
The consequences are devastating. Businesses such as butcheries, bakeries, food outlets, mortuaries, hairdressers, and clinics are unable to operate without water. In Ottosdal, only 10 of 57 boreholes are functional, yet not a single drop flows through the pipelines. Communities like Gannalaagte, Thawane, Doringlaagte, Witpan 1 and 2, Reatametse, Letsopa, Agisanang, Ditshotswaneng and Pelhindaba are left to fend for themselves while the District looks the other way.
No human should be forced to go more than two days without water. Yet the people of Ditshotswaneng have endured 15 years of unspeakable neglect, living without housing, water, sanitation or electricity, and no effort by the NMMDM to install basic standpipes within 200 metres of their homes.
This is not governance. It is a betrayal of the Constitution and a slap in the face to communities abandoned by the very institutions meant to protect them.
Despite multiple investigations by the South African Human Rights Commission, the Public Protector, and even a High Court judgment secured by AfriForum six years ago, the NMMDM remains defiant in its failure. There has been no improvement in bulk service delivery, maintenance or management, only a steady decline in the quality of life for thousands.
The DA will not stand by while the people of Tswaing suffer under this inhumane neglect and catastrophic service collapse. We will continue to fight for accountability, action, and the restoration of every community’s Constitutional right to clean water and decent sanitation.