No end to water woes

SEKHUKHUNE: WATER TANK THIEVES WALK FREE; MOST TANKS CRACKED

Thugs are making a quick buck, by stealing and selling them.

John Mathebe Inter-ministerial committee member

Of 1 333 tanks delivered, 22 missing and rest ‘stood empty for long time’.

The dream of a thirsty community to have adequate clean water to combat the spread of Covid-19 in the Sekhukhune region of Limpopo will remain just that – a dream.

Apart from thugs walking off with water tanks earmarked for the nearly 200 000-strong Sekhukhune community, a committee investigating it yesterday found the tanks wanting.

Between March and October 2020, a total of 1 333 water tanks were delivered to the area by the department of water and sanitation, through its water utility, the Lepelle Northern Water Board.

But the inter-ministerial committee, tasked by Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to oversee the project, revealed that a total of 22 tanks went missing.

The committee also said some of the tanks were no longer durable for use, while others had developed cracks.

According to the committee, each tank costs R1 200.

“They have been put on the stands without water for a very long time,” said committee member John Mathebe.

“Now, thugs have seized the opportunity and embarked on making a quick buck by stealing and selling them.

“Just yesterday, police nabbed two men red-handed stealing some of the tanks, while doing their routine patrols at night. To my dismay, today we get reports that their case had been withdrawn. We need answers as to why,” added Mathebe.

“We can confirm that we have arrested two suspects in possession of suspected stolen goods.

They appeared before the Dennilton Magistrate’s Court and their case was withdrawn,” Limpopo police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said yesterday.

Acting secretary-general for the Bolsheviks Political Party Seun Mogotji said it was wrong for people to steal community property. It was the duty of every citizen to be “watchdog” of their community and to report any kind of vandalism and theft of community property.

Mogotji urged members of the community to work with the police if they want to win the fight against crime.

The Sekhukhune district municipality, which is playing an oversight role in the implementation of the water project, strongly condemned the thievery of municipal or public property. Executive mayor Stan Ramaila said the municipality had faith in the criminal system and hoped justice would be served.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently said the ruling party had identified “failure to complete projects as one of the problems that hampered development”.

In February last year, Sisulu visited Moutse community, which had experienced acute water shortages for nearly 10 years. She injected R143 million into the project for the drilling of new boreholes and refurbishing old ones, and to buy tanks to store water. The project began in March last year and was expected to finish in August. Five months later, the project is still stalling.