Hardly 20 days after he promised to deliver water to Donald Frazer Hospital, the executive mayor of Vhembe, Cllr Tshitereke Matibe, has lived up to his promise by providing a borehole to the hospital.

Matibe made the bold promise on 26 June to the then acting chief executive officer of the hospital, Mr Nditsheni Mathule, who indicated that they were struggling to run the hospital because of the inconsistent supply of water.

Mathule told Matibe about the serious shortage of water during a summit presentation at the hospital.  “Nurses are sometimes forced to come to work with water in buckets in order to help the hospital running. This affects our service to the patients, as the process of using water from the buckets makes everything run slowly.  It is more frustrating as we cannot use the theatre without running water,” Mathule said then.

With the help of three businesspeople, Mr Percy Sambo of Bukuta Solidarity, Mr Velaphi Nemafhohoni of Vhembe Water Drilling and Immorial Building Construction and Mr Livhuwani Phophi of TLM Engineering Services and Mushavo Trading Enterprise, the Vhembe District Municipality is going to provide a consistent supply of water to the hospital before the end of July.

A borehole was drilled on Monday morning after a sod turning, which was conducted by Matibe, Thulamela Mayor Grace Mahosi, Chief Mphigalale and the CEO of the hospital, Mr Richard Mufamadi.

Nemafhohoni said: “This water will be available on Tuesday, July 16, but we must first send a sample to the laboratory in Pretoria where they will check the quality of the water. As there are no mines in this area, the process of sending a water sample is just a formality as we are positive that there is no contamination in the water,” he added.

Matibe said he was happy that they the municipality had delivered on its promise in record time. He hailed Cllr Lucy Mulaudzi, whom he tasked get a solution for the water shortage at the hospital. "I am very impressed with the pace at which Mulaudzi responded to the task given to her.  If all of the councillors and officials take their jobs as seriously as Mulaudzi, our people will not complain about service delivery in this district," said Matibe. He also paid homage to the three sponsors.