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Exchanging contacts ... Min Edna Molewa gives Vho Thovhele Gole Mphaphuli her contact numbers. She urged leaders to contact her directly if they feel things are not going as expected.

Vhembe to taste Nandoni´s water

 

Vho Thovhele Gole Mphaphuli, one of the most senior traditional leaders in Vhembe, welcomed the visit by Water Affairs Minister Edna Molewa to Nandoni last Monday, saying it brought hope to the community.

Mphaphuli, whose communities live close to the Nandoni Dam but are still not in a position to utilise the water from the dam seven years after its completion, was welcoming stakeholders and the Minister during a meeting that was held at the Nandoni purification plant.

The minister's visit came as a result of complaints by the local communities, who are complaining that government is doing nothing to expedite the provision of water to the communities, who are suffering despite the dam's being full.

Molewa said that she had found out that there were challenges which needed for them to sit down and look at ways and means by which to resolve them. “Our being here shows that you, the people of Vhembe, are important. You deserve all the services, not as favours, because we have an obligation to carry out the mandate you entrusted to us. We apologise profusely for the shoddy work done since 2004. The work that has been done here is something that we are not proud of,” she said.

She said the dam was not built to give the communities water. “We know that terrible mistakes have happened here,  but we need to move forward. There is a need that what happened must never be repeated," she added.

She said more than half a billion rand had been put aside for the laying of new pipes, which was enviaged to be completed within 56 weeks. To show her commitment for a speedy completion of the project, Molewa urged leaders to contact her personally if there was anything that they did not understand.

She admitted that therewere challenges like compensation, repairs of houses and some recommendations by the public protector which needed to be revisited.

Complaints Resolutions Committee chairperson Mr Solomon Baloyi said the visit by the minister left them with hope. "We have waited too long for this visit. We have all along been communicating with junior officials who fed the minister with wrong information. Now that she came and listened herself, we hope things will change and move faster," he said.

News - Date: 05 December 2011

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Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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