"The Vhembe District Municipality has been missing every deadline on the water supply action plan,” says the civil rights organization AfriForum.

The organization is currently consulting with its legal team with a view to taking the strongest possible urgent legal action to ensure the completion of the plan which would limit water flow interruptions to Makhado (Louis Trichardt) to the minimum.

Vhembe agreed on 26 November last year to have the action plan added onto the court order that AfriForum had obtained in October 2012 and changed to include personal responsibility on 16 May last year. The plan hinges on five main activities, but is not quite on track.

* New boreholes were to be constructed around the Mowkop reservoir to supplement water supply during breakdowns of the ageing Albasini pipeline or at the Albasini water treatment works. These boreholes should have been drilled, equipped, a pipeline to the reservoir completed and electrification should have been done by 7 April this year. Vhembe confirmed this week that nothing has been completed in this regard. “The driving and managing of this project was neglected by Vhembe’s technical manager, Mr Ratidzai Madimutsa,” said Mr Wally Schultz, chairperson of the local AfriForum branch

* The repair of the existing boreholes was an important project to supply the Bergh reservoir with water and should have been completed by 29 March. “The vandalism at the boreholes was one of the factors that delayed us,” said Vhembe’s Makhado water services manager, Mr David Mukosi. Other delays included late payment of contractors and lack of co-ordination between the two municipalities. Vhembe said that they were waiting for Makhado to do the electrification at the boreholes.

* The security at the water infrastructure had been a contentious point for long. “We appreciate the work that has been done to erect cement palisade fencing at several points. In the same breath, I am utterly disgusted that there is no security at the Albasini plant,” said Schultz.  He also tells about a fight of many weeks to get Vhembe to give the appropriate order to the company responsible for security at the boreholes.  “Madimutsa said that they should proceed without the proper order, which they could not do,” said Schultz.

* Contained in the plan was the construction of pipelines to connect the new boreholes in President Street and at the caravan park to the Bergh Street reservoir. Vhembe confirmed that President Street’s borehole had been connected but not the one at the caravan park. This one is currently linked directly to the main reticulation system.

* The upgrading at the Albasini water treatment works is a programme funded by the Municipal Water Infrastructure Grant (MWIG) with a total cost of R23 million, including work at the two pump stations at the plant, work at the three pump stations between the Albasini and the Mowkop reservoir and civil engineering work at the Albasini pump stations. Vhembe confirmed that these were not progressing according to plan.

“The court had previously ordered Vhembe, as well as the municipal manager, to deliver water. We may even ask the court to judge on the competence of Mr Madimutsa, whose lack of management halts the projects,” said Schultz.

Vhembe spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai said that they were not happy with AfriForum’s threat of going back to court. “We have tried very well to improve our relationship with AfriForum. We have improved our communication to explain about the water situation. Our municipal manager is always working with AfriForum and we have spent a lot of money on the old infrastructure,” Ralushai said. As to the quality of management of the water supply action plan, he was rather vague. “We have a technical director and a team there in Makhado,” Ralushai said.