A councillor for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mantsopa, Tania Halse, tells OFM News, most parts of Tweespruit are without access to water as a result. According to Halse, the DWS has noted receiving Mantsopa’s request for assistance, and agreed to help but they are yet to resolve the problem. She says the municipality, which includes Ladybrand, is facing water challenges across different parts of the municipality.

“We have the Modderpoort residents that have also been without water for a couple of days. All the municipality says is that two technicians are looking into the situation,” reveals Halse. She says residents in Thabong extension 9 and 10 in Ladybrand are also facing their own set of challenges. Extension 9 has taps but there is no water coming out, whilst extension 10, has no taps at all.

The Mantsopa Local Municipality remains mum on service delivery related issues, despite numerous attempts made to get comment. It is expected Free State Premier, Sisi Ntombela, will highlight these service delivery issues when she delivers her State of the Province Address (Sopa) on Tuesday 2 March.

The OFM News team recently visited the Thaba Phatswa settlement and spoke to residents Harry de Wee and Abraham Evans, who corroborated complaints from the Democratic Alliance (DA) alleging the provision of essential services not only in the small settlement, but also in nearby Tweespruit and Ladybrand, are all but non-existent. Evans expressed his frustrations over the worsening road conditions and absence of water supply, which was forcing residents to travel as far as 5 kilometres to access water. Halse says as far as she is aware, only one street in Thaba Phatswa is struggling with water supply due to poor infrastructure, but water tankers have been availed by the municipality in the area.

De Wee, whose home is located in an uphill part of Thaba Phatswa, says he and his family make sure to fill up their bath tub with water on the rare occasions they do get access to water, just so that they have enough to flush their toilet. He says when they take the matter up with the financially constrained municipality, they are informed that the problem lies with water infrastructure in the area, which makes it difficult for the water to be pumped up the hilly parts of the settlement.

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) recently noted that many communities in the country are battling to access water – a blatant contravention of their human rights. They said this in a webinar hosted by the Mail and Guardian on Wednesday 17 February, outlining the contents of an investigative report into the pollution of the Vaal River. The report found that none of the government parties central to the saga have taken accountability for the pollution of the river which the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) says is “beyond acceptable standards”.

Emfuleni Local Municipality, the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and the National Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) have over the course of the SAHRC’s investigation – which began in 2018 – shifted the blame to other parties, including one another, for the crisis at the Vaal River.

Emfuleni says they are not the only municipality that has contributed to the crisis, a point that is noted in the SAHRC’s report. The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, as well as the Midvaal Municipality, reportedly also directed sewage and wastewater material towards the wastewater sewerage systems situated in the Emfuleni Municipality – corroborating that these two municipalities do indeed add to the ongoing pollution.

The Department of Water and Sanitation confirms availing funds to Emfuleni to resolve the problem, but say the cash-strapped municipality has squandered the funds – highlighting the mismanagement issues at the Gauteng-based municipality which have been attributed to political instability. The panellists at the briefing – North West University's, Johann Tempelhoff; Maureen Stewart from Save the Vaal, Samson Mokoena, Coordinator at the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance; and Shirley Mlombo from the Human Rights Commission – ultimately are in agreement that the buck stops with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

It is this national department that grants and issues municipalities with licenses to run water and wastewater services and most importantly it’s the body that enforces and must ensure adherence to the National Water Act.

Blame shifting aside, all the parties concerned have been directed to implement certain recommendations at the behest of the SAHRC to salvage the situation. These parties have been directed to respond to the SAHRC on said recommendations within a 60-day period.

The Free State town of Parys is the lesser known casualty of the Vaal River crisis.

OFM News