Home

Residents of Dikgatlong Municipality in Northern Cape complain about water issues

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Residents of Phelindaba Township in Stillwater near Barkly West in the Northern Cape have criticised the Dikgatlong Municipality for its failure to provide them with water taps in their homes.

For more than ten years, the community of about fifty households has been getting water from one tap which is placed several kilometres away from their homes.

The community insists that this is a sign of poor governance by the Dikgatlong Municipality.

Phelindaba residents say they are bearing the brunt of years of little to no service delivery.

Residents have been waiting for almost 10 years for tap water in their homes:

Seventy-three-year-old Maria Sello still has to travel a long distance to get water from the only tap in the area.

Sello says “We would like to see changes in our area. It would be nice to get drinking water from taps in our homes.”

Residents maintain that not having access to tap water in their homes is a daily struggle. They say the Dikgatlong Municipality only delivered a water storage tank more than a year ago and it now stands empty.

Another Phelindaba resident says, “We have to travel a long distance to come get water. Even when it is dark, we don’t have a choice and we are elderly people.”

A third resident says, “The municipality and councillors must provide water to the people and not lie to us. They only know people when they want votes.”

The municipality insists that it has no money to install taps in every house and can only increase the number of communal taps in the area.

Acting Municipal Manager Baki Tsinyane says, “We have made an assessment in Phelindaba and have procured materials for installation of standpipes in the area. We are awaiting delivery of water materials to increase a number of standpipes. The residents were informed that the municipality has a plan to install additional taps in the area once material is delivered. In the current financial year, we have made no provision for household connections.”

Phelindaba residents are hoping that these promises by the municipality will materialise soon and not take many more years.

Until then, they will have to continue with their long walk just to access a basic human right.

Author

MOST READ