Seven years and over R3bn later, still no water

Pushing wheelbarrows loaded with 20-litre drums of water has become a daily routine for residents of Xikukwane village in Giyani, Limpopo, where getting water closer to homes remains a distant pipe dream for many households.

The village, one of at least 55 in Giyani, were meant to receive clean water through a 320km pipeline from Nandoni to Nsami dams, which would supply the villages through the failed Giyani Bulk Water project. The project was started in 2014 and was left incomplete after allegations of corruption, which saw its budget balloon to R3.3bn.

Pretty Chauke from Xikukwane village said the struggle for clean water is ongoing as taps remain dry and locals are forced to push wheelbarrows for hundreds of metres from their homes.

Chauke and her relatives had gathered at a communal tap at their neighbour’s home where they lined up empty water drums and wheelbarrows.

“During the week, there is no running water and it’s only on Saturday and Sunday when it is available. We never have regular water supply because during the week we are forced to buy from those who drilled boreholes in the backyards,” she said. 

“We are used to pushing wheelbarrows and it has become part of our lives. It will not help to fold our arms and complain about the distance because this is the life we know.”

Last week, water and sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu visited Khakhala village and called on authorities to work speedily to complete the delayed water infrastructure projects in Limpopo. Mchunu decried the R3.3bn spent on the project despite only 48% of the work done. .

He said money spent fruitlessly should be recovered from those involved. Mchunu made an undertaking that a newly revised plan for water provision will be received in a week’s time.

“The timeline is in a week’s time; the plan will be placed before us and we will consider it. If we agree on it, we will then source money and fund it so that we know that is now the full scope, this is the full budget, while investigations continue but strongly monitored and supervised by us,” he said.

A pile of water pipes and long open trenches are still visible alongside the R81 Road between Mpampo and Xikukwane villages.

Community leader Emmanuel Majoko has blamed government for failing to closely monitor the project. “We are not far from Nsami Dam, but we are not getting even a drop from the dam. Authorities should have kept a close eye on the project till its completion and not allow money to be looted,” he said.

He said he has lost hope that the project will be completed. “Since 2014 when the project started, the contractor has not done ground work in our village and this means the wait is still long for clean water. Our government is failing to deliver basic services to us,” he said.

Xikukwane, B9 and Makoxa villages are within a 5km radius from the Nsami Dam, which is full to the brim. The dam was meant to service 55 villages in Mopani District Municipality.

Khathu Civils, the company that later abandoned the site after R3.3bn was spent, is involved in a legal battle with the Special Investigating Unit.

Makoxa village headman Masenyani Makoxa said people resides a short distance from the Nsami Dam but the water was only useful for livestock. He said they used to get water from the dam but later, they were told the pipes were rusty and needed to be replaced. 

“We have been waiting for new pipes and it has been years now. My people continue to buy water when the government is supposed to provide the basic need for free. It is unfair,” he said.

Mchunu said the failure of the project was due to lack of planning and monitoring. 

“According to the report we got from the Water Board and our offices here, there was no scoping when they started. Lepelle was made the implementing agent, and work was started without scoping, without designs, without a proper budget, it went up to R3.3bn already spent and no water still. After R3.3bn, the upper budget they are talking about is R4.1bn.”