SHIHOSANA – Villagers in the deep rural area of the Thulamela Municipality who have connected water taps into their yards illegally in the recent past, will soon be without water in their illegal taps.

This comes after the municipality announced in April this year that all households with taps without meter readings had to visit their nearest local municipal offices, such as Tshitereke, Shayandima, Malamulele and Thohoyandou to make arrangements on how they could pay meter connection fees that range from R450 to R750. The due date was scheduled for May 31.

At Shihosana village, residents gathered over the weekend to discuss the matter. During their gathering, they blamed the authorities for failing to provide them with basic services since 1994. They indicated that, since the new dispensation, residents staying in the new stands at the village have been living without clean water.

The community also raised claims that they had not connected water taps illegally since they raised funds to buy water pipes in order to get water from the Middle Letaba Dam in 1992. They further blamed the municipality for failing to install taps on their street and suitable water reticulation.

The Manager of Technical Services at the Thulamela Municipality, Mr Eric Mulimisi Muneri, confirmed that the municipality would embark on a campaign to remove all illegally connected water taps. “We are still calling our people to come forward to the municipality and fix their problems with us. We are going to install street taps 400m from each other on the RDP standard,” he said.

Several villages like Hasani and Mudabula are hiring vehicles to fetch water at the nearby Luvuvhu River.