Residents in mining town face bleak future without water and electricity

THOUSANDS of villagers in Blyvooruitzicht near Carletonville in Gauteng face a bleak future without water or electricity – and the government can do nothing to assist them.

The village is situated on land owned by Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine, which has fallen on hard times and has been the backdrop of recent strife emanating from illegal mining activity.

The mine, which is in the Merafong Municipality, has been under provisional liquidation since 2013 and has run into financial difficulty.

The provisional liquidation will be finalised at the end of November.

It had been paying the municipality for water and elec- tricity, but is about R200-million in arrears – raising the spectre of the services being cut off.

Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Jacob Mamabolo said the state’s hands were tied and it could not intervene.

Mamabolo met the community and stakeholders, including the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance, Lawyers for Human Rights, the SA Human Rights Commission, the municipality and the mine’s liquidators, to try and find a workable solution to the impending crisis.

But it did not yield any positive outcomes.

The villagers will be the big losers when the mine, which is largely owned by DRDGold, is eventually liquidated.

In May, the municipality switched off the mine’s water supply after it failed to settle an almost R200-million bill.

The water has since been turned back on, but the village is facing bigger problems.

The mine gets its electricity directly from Eskom.

“But if that arrangement comes to an end on November 27 [when the provisional liquidation is finalised], the area [will turn] into dark city – a ghost town ... [and] all existing infrastructure is going to potentially be at risk of scrap metal dealers,” Mamabolo said.

The villagers are willing to pay what they can to keep services running and have even suggested getting prepaid water meters.

However, the village’s water pipes are on their last legs and, without new infrastructure, that plan will not work.

The MEC had earlier said the municipality would be sending the wrong signal to other big businesses if it had not dealt decisively with the mine’s non-payment.

“The principle of government is that services must be paid for,” Mamabolo said.

“Of course, we understand the plight of the community, but government has made provisions for those types of circumstances.”

The municipality could assist villagers if they applied for help under its indigents’ programme.

The mine went into provisional liquidation more than two years ago after which it ceased operating.

It has become a main attraction among desperate illegal miners. – BDlive