Limpopo Acting Premier, Mr Rudolph Phala,

Water and Sanitation Minister, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane,

MECs,

Mopani District Executive Mayor, Cllr Rakgoale,

Traditional and Religious Leaders,

Ladies and gentlemen

Avuxeni, Ndi Matsheloni, Dumelang, Molweni.

It is my pleasure to once more be among the people of the Mopani District.

We have come here as part of the Presidential Siyahlola Monitoring Visit.

In 2009 we introduced a performance monitoring and evaluation function in government. We decided that we should be able to take a hands on approach in monitoring service delivery. I also decided to personally visit communities where there are challenges, to ensure that services are delivered as per commitments by government.

We have come here to deliver good news, to celebrate the delivery of a very important service, water, to 55 villages in this district. You have complained about water over a long period, we have now been able to attend to that problem.

Water is life. Without water, life is difficult.

Water is a serious challenge in many of our communities.

South Africa is rapidly growing into a water scarce country, particularly due to broader changes which are caused by climate change and global warming.

As a result many countries experience varying extremes such as floods and drought.

It is not only this province which faces water shortage challenges, but many others in the country do.

Where there is shortage of water, sanitation is also poor and consequently health is affected.

In other areas the biggest challenge is ageing infrastructure.

As government, we have made various interventions to deal with this challenge in the country.

We have for example expanded water infrastructure, such as building dams and refurbishing and improving old infrastructure to improve water supply. We were here recently in Limpopo to open De Hoop Dam. We have opened new dams in other provinces as well.

We are also increasing the Municipal Infrastructure Grant to enable the municipalities to increase their scale of service delivery.

We continue to focus on providing water throughout the country. In the past five months, we have attended to water and sanitation challenges in places such as Bloemhof, Ngobi and Ngaka Modiri Molema District in the North West Province, Makana District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, Hobhouse in the Free State and Umkhanyakude District Municipality in KZN among others.  

There is an acute shortage of water in the Mopani District area.

The scale of dependence on boreholes illustrates the gravity of this challenge, even in the hospitals.

The rural areas in this part of the country are suffering, particularly when you consider that almost half of the boreholes drilled are for one or other reason not working.

Generally, when you look at the statistics compiled through research and site visits, all the five local municipalities under the Mopani District Municipality have been experiencing serious water shortages.

This is why we have mounted massive efforts to improve the provision of water in this area, among others through the Giyani Water Treatment Works which is being refurbished.

The scope of the Giyani Water Treatment Works project include the construction of additional 6.7 Megalitres per day capacity Water Treatment Works.

It also includes the refurbishment of the existing 30 Megalitres Water Treatment Works to increase the supply to 36.7 Megalitres per day.

The Giyani Water Treatment Works is part of the 26 Water Treatment Works which supplies the Mopani District.

Government is putting supplementary measures in place to expand the water supply.  The Department of Water and Sanitation has requested the Lepelle Northern Water Board to assist, as well as to improve supply from the Middle Letaba Dam and the Nsami Dam.

In the longer term there are also plans to source water from various other dams.

I will ask for an update from time to time from Minister Mokonyane and Premier Mathabatha in this regard so that government authorities and departments meet their water targets.

However, we can say so far so good. I am personally happy that the Giyani Water Treatment Works refurbishment project is 98% complete, which has improved and will continue to improve the water supply in this area.

It is important to ensure optimum operational capacity of all Water Treatment Works to ensure that every household meet its water needs.

Let me also remind all of us that it is our responsibility as citizens to take care of the water infrastructure that is being laid in this district.

I learnt that some of the boreholes are not working because of theft and vandalism. I also heard that the water shortage is made worse by illegal connections to the service reservoirs. 

It is our collective responsibility to see to it that this does not happen. We must not abuse infrastructure that is laid out to improve our lives.

We need to work together to ensure that we move forward and not spend time fixing infrastructure that has been destroyed by unscrupulous people. We urge members of the community to report all wrongdoing to the police so that we can root out the criminal elements.

We will continue to work with the District Municipality and all Local Municipalities, as well as other stakeholders to ensure that water is no longer a problem in this area eventually.

It is also important that we strengthen our mechanisms of feedback to the communities to ensure that they are up to date with developments and know what is happening.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me to take this opportunity to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Senzo Meyiwa, the captain of our national squad, Bafana Bafana, and that of our exceptional Olympic gold medalist, Mbulaheni Mulaudzi.

Our hearts also go out to the family of professional boxer, Ms Phindile Mwelase, who died last Saturday.

Their tragic passing has robbed us of the talents and contribution of these outstanding sportspersons who have contributed immensely to the promotion of national pride and unity in our country.

Ladies and gentlemen

South Africans have become very conscious of the need to save electricity.

We congratulate all of you for continuing to save electricity. We now want you to save water, another very scarce commodity in our country. Water is life. Every drop counts.

Let us ensure that there are no dripping taps, and that any wastage is reported to the authorities without delay.

It concerns us very deeply as government if people do not have water, and we will continue to strive to ensure that this challenge is reduced very drastically and eradicated.

Dear community of Giyani,

I am happy that I have come to see for myself that when the Minister of Water and Sanitation Ms Mokonyane said you now have water, it was really accurate.

That is the purpose of the Presidential Siyahlola Monitoring Visit. I will continue to visit communities to inspect and ensure that services are delivered as undertaken.

Thank you for hosting us today.

We look forward to visiting you again in future to discuss other services.

This government will never rest until every community has access to basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity and so forth.

I thank you.