Community that relies on dirty water for survival
Lichtenburg residents are waiting for the state to deliver water tanks.
Residents of a North West town say they have been drinking dirty water which contains sewage waste and also use it for cooking for nearly two years. Lichtenburg community members say they have been drinking the water after the Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality failed to deliver water tanks to Rietfontein for nearly two years. “It used to make us sick, but now we are used to it, we drink it, cook with it and wash our children’s clothes with it,” said one of the residents, Selina Mogale. Yesterday, Mogale and three other women and their children walked about 1km to a spilling sewer that passes next to their area.
They said sometimes they had to boil water when it looked too dirty or when they could not handle the stench. “It stinks most of the time, we will be left with no option but to boil it, we will then take out the white foam and drink it,” she said.
When the sewer gets dry, residents wait for sunset so they can steal water from neighbouring farms. Another resident Eria Molete explains: “We go there in groups, we run to go there and run back with filled buckets going back home.” This year, they only received one tank of water from Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality. This was back in March.
This shocked members of the national council of provinces (NCOP), who visited the province last week. Chairperson of NCOP Jomo Nyambi said they had visited the province after the interministerial task team (IMTT) reported to parliament that there was an issue of the sewer spillage in Lichtenburg. The spillage was affecting nearby township like Blydeville and Boikhutso. Nyambi said IMTT told them that the problem had been attended to. He said they visited the province to satisfy themselves. “It is clear that there is a problem of coordination between the district and a number of local municipalities,” Nyambi said.
“One thing that is coming out to us is that there are some challenges here and they need immediate attention.” In December 2015, former water & sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane handed over six water tankers valued at R1.3m each to assist the phasing out of outsourcing of water tanks in the province. Ditsobotla local municipality spokesperson Puis Batsile said the municipality only learnt recently that the community was not getting water.
He said the water truck stopped delivering water there because the municipality was in negotiations with a service provider to supply the water. “After the intervention of NCOP it was resolved that a service provider will start giving the residents water starting from Monday,” he said.