Dikgatlong municipality faces a hot, dry summer as water is quickly drying up, with no solution in place to stem the developing crisis.

The situation came to a head this weekend, when water in residents’ taps stopped flowing in certain areas of Barkley-West, later escalating to the towns of Windsorton, Delportshoop, Longlands, Gong-Gong and farming areas.

The technical manager blamed the situation on loadshedding and the fact that the municipality does not have a generator for the pumps. This reason alone, however, cannot be entirely to blame as loadshedding was halted over the weekend, while Dikgatlong’s water woes worsened.

Further engagements between myself and the Department of Water and Sanitation revealed that, while loadshedding is aggravating the Dikgatlong water situation, a far more ominous underlying issue is also at play.

The bottom line is that the greater Dikgatlong municipality, which is nestled next to an abundance of water from the Vaal River, has a scarcity of water management skills, and in effect too little purified water to distribute to all its towns.

Gong-Gong faces the contamination of a borehole and the drilling of another borehole has been underway for the past two weeks. In Delportshoop and Longlands, Dikgatlong has introduced water-shedding due to an inadequate supply of water. In Windsorton, a valve was damaged and replaced, but water-shedding is also continuing because there is just not enough water supply.

Schools, the hospital and clinics are badly affected. The situation points to an accelerating crisis that is not receiving the necessary attention from the cash-strapped Dikgatlong municipality.

The DA will urgently address the matter through a letter and parliamentary questions to the MEC of COGHSTA, Bentley Vass, demanding a plan of action with timelines, indicating how and when Dikgatlong intends managing and resolving the matter. Those must include an explanation in respect of the new water pipeline that was laid in 2018, but never operationalised.

Residents of Dikgatlong deserve much more than being left high and dry by another failing ANC municipality and the DA will continue to fight for their water rights.

 

Issued by Delmaine Christians MP - Constituency Head of Diamond South