Mvezo villagers hope for end to water problems

The OR Tambo district municipality has launched an investigation into the lack of tap water for Mvezo villagers.

The announcement follows a Dispatch exposé that revealed how Mvezo residents have been forced to draw water from the Mbashe River for the past five years after a pipeline was cut by a contractor working in the area.

OR Tambo municipal manager Owen Hlazo, said officials had been sent to investigate the situation.

“Whenever there are disruptions in water supply we send out plumbers.”

The village is the birthplace of the late former president Nelson Mandela.

His grandson, Mandla Mandela, is the current chief of the village and is also an ANC MP.

Despite these connections, the water supply was cut off five years ago by a contractor working at the Mvezo Great Place – also referred to as Mvezo Komkhulu.

A recent visit by a Daily Dispatch team to the village found that:

lA borehole, which was a lifeline for villagers is no longer working;

lThe only tap has long since run dry; and

lBroken water pipes were seen lying on the ground.

Villagers, who spoke to the Dispatch on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation said they had no choice but to use Mbashe River water. A villager, who lives close to Mandla’s Great Place, said the chief did not support them. “We can’t do without water. Zwelivelile knows that water is a very important resource, mainly for rural people where there are no shops to buy water like in the suburbs,” he said.

Another man, who claimed to be a member of the Mvezo council, said if millions were being ploughed into development at the Great Place, it should be easy to supply water to villagers.

“This is torture, to get water from that river is painful for women and children. This trust should buy a generator to draw water from Mbashe and pump it to a main reservoir where people will be able to get water,” he added.

“The chief and his family drink from water bought from Mthatha carted by big water tankers.”

Mandla said a comprehensive study sponsored by Siemens had developed a solution to address the water challenges but required investment for the implementation phase.

“We call on local and international investors and the donor community to assist in making this a reality,” Mandla said. Hlazo said the district hired trucks to deliver water to communities when there were water shortages.

But he cautioned that delivering water by truck stretched the resources of government.

“We don’t treat Mvezo differently to other communities. We still have huge backlogs of water provisioning in OR Tambo,” he said.

Hlazo said they faced other challenges, such as boreholes and underground water systems drying out because of a lack of rain.

He said the district planned to draw water from the Mthatha Dam to boost supply for the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) municipality.

Mvezo falls under the KSD.

Unprecedented development at Mvezo, brought about by the Mvezo Traditional Council through the Mvezo Development Trust, has been taking place in the area amid the water challenges.

Mvezo Great Place was initially earmarked to be part of Mandela’s legacy project – the Nelson Mandela Museum.

Other sites are found in Qunu and Bhunga building in Mthatha.

However, separate developments have taken place in Mvezo, which do not form part of the Nelson Mandela Museum following a fall-out between the museum and Mandla. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za / msindisif@dispatch.co.za