The newly-elected Executive Mayor of Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality Councillor Khumalo Molefe together with his counterpart at the Mahikeng Local Municipality, Tshepiso Mphehlo, visited the Mmabatho Water Treatment plant in Mahikeng earlier this morning.
This was to assess the state of the plant in an endeavour to come up with a long-lasting solution that would enable the provision of quality water to the local communities.
The Mmabatho Water Purification plant is currently operating at a 30% operational capacity. The plant should be operating at its full capacity, of 100%.
Molefe says they have detected some serious maintenance problems at the plant. He also noted the shortage of staff, as well as serious duplication of responsibilities.
“There are similar functions operated or handled by Ngaka Modiri Molema. The same functions are handled by Mahikeng Local Municipality, by Sedibeng Water, consultants, and contractors. Our view is that there are too many hands in one problem, therefore there is duplication and wastage.”
Molefe, who was not impressed by what he discovered, says the situation was not encouraging. He says senior managers at both Ngaka Modiri Molema District and its Mahikeng counterpart, have been ordered to generate a report, in which bottlenecks are identified in terms of responsibilities.
“We are determined, as we want to hold people accountable. There must be consequence management. The status quo can’t be sustained. But we have also resolved that we may have to rope in the Minister of Water and Sanitation. Let’s get to the problem, let the people of Mahikeng get a blue drop water.”
For a long time, Mahikeng residents have been receiving water of poor quality, which many regarded as unhealthy, and not suitable for human consumption.
In recent weeks, there have been water shortages, and where it was available, the supply has been erratic, causing a lot anger and unhappiness in the affected communities.
