Elmon Tshikhudo
The multi million rand Nandoni Dam in Vhembe was completed some years back and is full to capacity. But communities in the area still battle for access to fresh water.
Water in these communities is one the scarcest resources in the region with some villages going for weeks or months without fresh water.
The Vhembe District Municipality, the regional water authority, sometimes sends water tankers to such villages but often the tankers will not carry out their water deliveries.
This has forced desperate residents to use the little funds they receive from their Sassa grants to buy water.
The Mtititi village, a community a few kilometres from Malamulele and about 15 kilometres from the dam, has 650 RDP houses.
Unemployment and poverty go hand in hand and most inhabitants can hardly afford the basics.
Years ago, residents used to get their daily supply of water at the nearby Muhunguti village, but the borehole stopped working in 2020 leaving residents without any source of water.
The tanks that used to store water at Muhunguti have also become dysfunctional, with one broken and another that has not had water for the past five months.
Nothing has come of promises to supply water with water tankers and the community is desperate.
Mthavini Mabasa has a family of eight. “We can’t even afford to have a bath in the evening as that will mean more money which we do not have,” she told Scrolla.Africa.
To bathe once a day takes two containers of 25 litres of water per day.
This volume of water sets residents back R10 from the private tankers which arrive to take advantage of the desperate demand for water.
“We survive on social grants and with no other source of income we are forced to buy water while we have a government that says it puts people first,” she said.
From her grant money she has to buy food, give pocket money to her grandchildren for school and she is left with nothing.
“This is far too much for us who only have enough to buy mealie meal,” said gogo Mabasa.
“Our government is failing us and the worst part of it is that we voted for them.”
Community leader Phineas Bilankulu said the villages of Mtititi have been without water for more than ten years.
“We have engaged the municipality on a number of occasions but that has not borne any fruit.
We have a Water Crisis Committee set up for this purpose and we have been to the municipality offices to highlight our plight. What we get are empty promises,” he said.
“We have been waiting for water since 2013.”
