A village of about 500 households has no water despite a company employed by the Chris Hani district municipality receiving millions of rands to provide water to residents.
Mfuraa Projects and General, owned by businessman Mfundo Kwani, was awarded a number of tenders for the provision of water works in areas around Engcobo local municipality, which has been hit hard by drought.
Documents show that of this money, R3-million was used to install water infrastructure in Msawawa and Manzana areas.
However, the people still draw water from the local dams and springs. The brand new, multimillion-rand reservoir, pump station, and pipes are standing empty and unused while the taps, residents said, ran dry a long time ago.
Speaking to the Dispatch last week, residents said they were angered by the service delivery failure.
Michael Jezile, of Msawawa, said they were happy when they saw contractors installing water pipes in their village, and had hoped that they would finally get running water.
“We always knew that our government will never neglect us and we will get services like running water. But to our disappointment, many of us have not tasted a single drop of water from the new multimillion-rand infrastructure.”
Resident Nokhanyiso Mposwa said: “What were these people doing here? We even decided to form a committee to collect money to get our own tank that will be fed from water coming from the mountain. These contractors have failed us.”
The Dispatch drove around Msawawa with villagers and visited a new water reservoir. The reservoir stands empty while a water pump station has pipes that are not properly connected. The ends of some are simply protruding from the ground.
The Dispatch team also visited a spring not far from the village main road. Villager Bongiwe Ndevu said she drew water there every day.
“This is the only source of water I’ve known since I arrived in this village. The taps here are few but none of them give us water.”
Nosakele Yola has given up. The Dispatch spoke to her while she was washing her clothes in a murky dam in the middle of the village. “We’ve been staying like this and this is our life, there’s just no hope that we will get water. I will appreciate it if this could be investigated.”
Kwani blamed the water problems in Msawawa on illegal connections.
“They break the pipes and then how do you expect the pumped water to reach the reservoir?
“Residents should protect their infrastructure,” he said.
Chris Hani municipality spokeswoman Thobeka Mqamelo said their municipality had been hit hard by drought which negatively impacted on the wellbeing of the communities.
“The council resolved to declare a disaster, which is a state of emergency. This saw us appointing a panel of three contractors for term tenders. Their terms of reference are to assist in dealing with drought-related emergency work which will enable restoration of water and sanitation services.” — bonganif@dispatch.co.za
Millions are spent but taps still dry
Mfuraa Projects and General, owned by businessman Mfundo Kwani, was awarded a number of tenders for the provision of water works in areas around Engcobo local municipality, which has been hit hard by drought.
Documents show that of this money, R3-million was used to install water infrastructure in Msawawa and Manzana areas.
However, the people still draw water from the local dams and springs. The brand new, multimillion-rand reservoir, pump station, and pipes are standing empty and unused while the taps, residents said, ran dry a long time ago.
Speaking to the Dispatch last week, residents said they were angered by the service delivery failure.
Michael Jezile, of Msawawa, said they were happy when they saw contractors installing water pipes in their village, and had hoped that they would finally get running water.
“We always knew that our government will never neglect us and we will get services like running water. But to our disappointment, many of us have not tasted a single drop of water from the new multimillion-rand infrastructure.”
Resident Nokhanyiso Mposwa said: “What were these people doing here? We even decided to form a committee to collect money to get our own tank that will be fed from water coming from the mountain. These contractors have failed us.”
The Dispatch drove around Msawawa with villagers and visited a new water reservoir. The reservoir stands empty while a water pump station has pipes that are not properly connected. The ends of some are simply protruding from the ground.
The Dispatch team also visited a spring not far from the village main road. Villager Bongiwe Ndevu said she drew water there every day.
“This is the only source of water I’ve known since I arrived in this village. The taps here are few but none of them give us water.”
Nosakele Yola has given up. The Dispatch spoke to her while she was washing her clothes in a murky dam in the middle of the village. “We’ve been staying like this and this is our life, there’s just no hope that we will get water. I will appreciate it if this could be investigated.”
Kwani blamed the water problems in Msawawa on illegal connections.
“They break the pipes and then how do you expect the pumped water to reach the reservoir?
“Residents should protect their infrastructure,” he said.
Chris Hani municipality spokeswoman Thobeka Mqamelo said their municipality had been hit hard by drought which negatively impacted on the wellbeing of the communities.
“The council resolved to declare a disaster, which is a state of emergency. This saw us appointing a panel of three contractors for term tenders. Their terms of reference are to assist in dealing with drought-related emergency work which will enable restoration of water and sanitation services.” — bonganif@dispatch.co.za
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