'Stop the lies premier, we have not had tap water in over 10 long years'

Days after North West premier Bushy Maape painted a rosy picture of service delivery, citing his hometown of Vryburg in parliament, residents in the area say they are planning to embark on the second protest in a month over lack of services. 

The community of Vryburg in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati municipality, which Maape referenced during his speech at the state of the nation address debate last week, said they haven’t had running water for many years. 

The premier last week boldly told parliament that in Vryburg, although there were no tarred roads in Mahuma Street where his home is located, “there’s a flushing toilet, there’s a tap with running water and at my home we have electricity”. 

According to South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) regional coordinator in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati municipality, Kevin Bareki, residents in the street Maape mentioned have not had running water for years.

“We protest then have water for a day – and the day after that, there’s no water again,” he said.

“It’s not that we don’t have water in our dams but it’s contractors who deliberately damage infrastructure so they can get [water] tank tenders. They damage the infrastructure that delivers water to our taps,” Bareki said

He added that residents have planned a service delivery protest for the end of this week.

“The situation in his municipality is very bad. More than 70% of our roads are gravel and this includes some of the previous ones that were tarred and it’s mostly due to poor maintenance and unfunded projects,” he said.

Bareki said during the last service delivery protest, Maape and Cogta MEC Nono Maloyi didn’t meet with protesters to receive their memo – which was one of the reasons they were planning on protesting again.

Another resident, Tebogo Lebona, said the water problems in the town had been going on for more than 10 years.

“We have taps in our homes but the water’s simply not coming out. We’re told that pumps are deliberately sabotaged and when we ask if cases are opened with the police we’re told no. All of this is about tenders,” Lebona said.

Maape has come under fire since his speech in parliament, where he also said he’d never hit a single pothole on roads in his province.

“I travel from Mahikeng to Rustenburg, I travel from Mahikeng to Klerksdorp, I travel from Mahikeng to  Schweizer-Reneke, I travel from Mahikeng to Madibong and I’ve not hit a pothole.

“While it is true some of our roads are not in good condition, some roads are in excellent condition. That’s the true picture,” Maape said.

The premier also said businesses should be prepared to buy generators to operate during power crises.

In Mahikeng, just outside the ANC’s North West provincial offices, a massive pothole filled with water due to rainy weather makes for a sore sight on the road. Furthermore driving to Montshioa town clinic passing the North West department of education offices, motorists have to swerve around the many potholes.

This is the lived reality of residents in Mahikeng and the broader North West who have to navigate deep and wide potholes to reach their destinations.

DA MPL and party caucus leader in the North West provincial legislature Freddy Sonakile said if Maape was the most travelled in the province, he would know the lived experiences of residents.

“It’s arrogance from the premier’s side because I sit in the public works committee and it was said it would take more than R500bn to fix roads in the province. He did not give the real state of the province and it was a missed opportunity because budget could be allocated to provinces whose premiers have pleaded with government and gave an honest account. He’s out of touch,” Sonakile said.

EFF provincial secretary and MPL Papiki Babuile said Maape misled government and cabinet which, according to him, showed the level of disregard for the people of the province.

Maape’s spokesperson Sello Tatai said the premier had made reference to specific roads in the province “which are in good condition and have no potholes” and that he had not denied the existence of potholes in some parts of the province.

“Over 35 road projects for upgrading and maintenance have been commissioned for the 2022/2023 financial year, and over R1.3bn has been set aside to address road infrastructure backlogs in the North West,” he said.

ANC provincial chairperson Nono Maloyi defended his premier, saying he was simply saying it’s not all the roads that are bad in the province.

“His statement was a balancing one. He made examples of good roads. That was not the whole story. Some of the roads he mentioned are okay but the majority of our roads are in a bad state,” Maloyi conceded.