The Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) has initiated a system to curb the vandalising of boreholes and the stealing of municipal infrastructure needed to supply residents with clean water.

The head of technical services at VDM, Cllr Lucas Manyuwa, announced the programme during the Makhado municipal imbizo held last Friday at the Tshakhuma Apostolic Faith Mission church. Executive committee members of the Makhado Municipality and some councillors visited Tshakhuma to assess the level of services delivered by the government over the past three years.

Cllr Manyuwa said a consultant was already on site to install the system and he was confident that the system would be able to curb the theft. “The system will surely lead us to arrest those who are stealing our expensive equipment. Those thieves are hindering service delivery to our communities,” he said.

Despite the challenge of vandalism, the municipality also embarked on a programme to maintain and replace the most dilapidated water pipes and connecting new pipes in the Vhembe region. Cllr Manyuwa said the contractor had already started working and at least 6 000 connections would be finished before the end of June.

Speaking at the imbizo, Tshakhuma chief Thovhele Naledzani Madzivhandila commended the Makhado municipality’s projects that were initiated in his area. He insisted, however, that the municipality rebuke the contractors. “The projects are implemented, but contractors just do shoddy work and leave within a few months,” he said. Chief Madzivhandila said the municipal officials should have gone to their area earlier to address challenges, including fixing reservoirs, since the people were drinking water from the streams. He said most of the projects were halted before they were finished. “The RDP houses were not even built. The contractor just delivered cement and bricks, and when we asked him he said he was coming back. We have not seen him again,” he added.

More than a dozen members of the public who come from poor families were given food parcels by SASSA during the imbizo. Cllr David Mutavhatsindi said the municipality would address the challenges of the community of Tshakhuma. “Some of the issues could not be addressed by us, such as those from the education sector and other sectors, but we will connect residents with the right authorities that will help them,” Cllr Mutavhatsindi promised.