The announcement that security was to be beefed up was barely cold or cable thieves destroyed expensive new infrastructure, leaving communities struggling without water once more.

On Monday, officials of the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) and police stared in horror and disbelief at the scene of destruction at the Madombidzha pump station outside Makhado (Louis Trichardt). Every cable between the control box and the main pump, as well as the stand-by pump, was destroyed and the control box was empty.

The provisional estimation of the damage was more than R700 000. The contractor had just completed the work at the pump station and the equipment was brand new.

The theft and damaging of property took place sometime between Thursday and Sunday and was discovered on Monday morning. Mr David Mukosi, VDM’s manager of water services in Makhado, was devastated. “The contractor and his team moved out two weeks ago. He employed his own security that moved out with him,” Mukosi said. He spoke on the subject of stealing the day before.  “Yesterday I was in Gogobole with the tribal council and I urged them to tell their children that they must refrain from stealing government property,” Mukosi said.

The cable thieves entered the enclosure by forcing open a concrete palisade bar. They stood on a drum to open the top set of doors of the pump station building, gained access and forced the bottom doors open to be able to leave with their spoils. Inside was some the remains of a small fire, presumably used to start burning the cables for the copper.

There are fourteen boreholes feeding the villages in the Madombidzha area. Ten are in the villages of Madombidzha, Magau, Ratidili, Gogobole and Tshioswe and of those 10, only one is operational and has not run dry. The other four boreholes are near the pump station and are working. Now all these villages are entirely without water once again.

Mr Timmy Shirindza, project manager from VDM’s technical services, was also there to assess the damage. “We shall engage the engineer who designed the pump station to see how best we can make it more secure,” Shirindza said.

The VDM's municipal manager, Mr Masala Makumule, announced on 14 July that the security of infrastructure was to be beefed up. Sixty posts for security officers had been created for the whole of Vhembe. Evidently, they were not fast enough.

“We said a long time ago that an electronic security system must be installed, where alerts register on several cell phones when the control box is tampered with,” said Ms Inga Gilfillan, chairperson of the Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association (SRPA).

Mr Wally Schultz, chairperson of AfriForum Louis Trichardt, is furious. “We warned Vhembe on our very first meeting that security had to be a priority. They have agreed to install electronic security. This defies all logic: you spend all that money on infrastructure and security is neglected. AfriForum is going to take strong action on the negligence of security. It constitutes gross negligence,” said Schultz.