Rise Mzansi has appealed to Deputy President Paul Mashatile to announce the completion of the Giyani Water Project.
This is after Mashatile, with the Minister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina, and Limpopo Government officials conducted an oversight visit at Giyani Water Treatments, Nandoni Dam pump station and the Middle Letaba Canal in Xikukwani project sites, last Friday.
The Giyani Water Project has been on a 10-year halt since 2014, following a report by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) which found government officials syphoned R4 billion. The project’s budget ballooned from R500 million to R4.5bn.
Delayed completion of this project deprived 55 local villages of access to water.
Majodina said the Department of Water and Sanitation’s former ministers failed to complete the water project.
She said the department faced difficulties installing a 40km pipeline under the river to transport water from Nandoni Dam to Giyani, hence completion delays.
“Yes, we admit there are delays. When the president (Cyril Ramaphosa) was here in 2022, there were no water pumps working in Nandoni to take water to Giyani, but now those pipes have been installed. There was no treatment plant ready at the time, but there is a plant. There is progress,” Majodina said.
The Giyani Water Treatment site is under refurbishment to reach a maximum capacity of 30 megalitres of water per day, benefiting local residents.
Other remaining incomplete components of the Giyani Water Project, included the bulk pipeline and water reticulation projects which are set to supply water from communal taps to yard connections of the 55 villages.
The department noted only 24 villages have water taps installed in their yards, while nine already had access to water supply.
“There are 31 villages remaining to get water from their taps, and they will be part of Phase 2 of Giyani Water Project which was expected to start in the new financial year.
“However, following a meeting with the implementing agents, a commitment was made that the Phase 2 of the project should start by December this year, with the following phase (3) commencing in the next financial year. This is to ensure that the remaining projects are completed, and all villages receive water from their household taps,” the department said.
In spite of the department’s delayed strides, Rise Mzansi National Assembly caucus whip and MP, Makashule Gana, sounded alarm on water shedding being a national crisis.
He said habitual water outages insidiously affect access to sanitation, resulting in great loss of livelihoods.
“The crisis of the Giyani Water Project speaks to broader issues when it comes to water and sanitation. According to the government’s own assessment, 64% of South Africa’s waste-water treatment works are at ‘high or critical risk’.
“This means that we are discharging a dangerously unacceptable volume of untreated sewage into our rivers every day. Moreover, only 12 of the country’s 133 water services authorities are in a good or excellent state, 40 are in a critical state,” Gana said.
Citing the pending water project, old and incomplete infrastructure are also pivotal in stunted access to quality water, exposing publicans to diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea.
Gana advised the deputy president to adopt policies that would reform governance to meet project deadlines for the benefit of civilians in service delivery.
He said: “Reform water leadership and governance, repair the water system and extend it to every home. Further eliminate water misgovernance, misuse and overuse; reduce water use levels through education and mass mobilisation campaigns. Additionally, work collaboratively with the private sector.”
Mashatile urged the provincial government to fast track the completion of the water project.
“We are encouraging the government to move with the necessary speed to fully implement these water services programmes to create a better life for our communities,” he said.
The deputy president did not divulge the exact date of completion of the project.
The Star