Residents of Muwaweni are upset, not only because they have been without water for two years, but also because they now have to collect water from nearby dams where animals graze.

Muwaweni village falls under the jurisdiction of the Makhado Municipality and is part of the Vhembe district. The Vhembe District Municipality, who is responsible for providing water in the area, approved the construction of two water reservoirs to alleviate the problems residents are experiencing. According to residents, this R12 million project came to a halt when the construction company abandoned it.

According to one of the residents, Mrs Mamatumi Mokgoro, they are now forced to collect water for household purposes from a nearby dam. This dam is greatly polluted and at any given time cattle and goats can be spotted drinking from and defecating in the water.

“We are forced to use the water from the dam because there is no water in the village. We were told that by March this year, the reservoirs which are being built in the area will have been completed, but the projects have now stopped. The contractor has disappeared. We were also told that we were going to receive water from the Nandoni dam, but it is not happening and we are continuing to suffer,” Mrs Mokgoro said.

Mrs Mokgoro explained that, in order to purify the water before drinking, they pour some cement or ash into the containers. This clears some of the algae and makes it appear more drinkable.

Residents of Muwaweni are also upset about the fact that the government seems to have neglected them. “No one wants to get involved with our prob-lems here. It is high time that people start taking us seriously, as we are part of this district. We are fed up with the empty promises,” said one of the angry community members.

Mirror also learnt that Muwaweni is not the only village affected by a severe shortage of water. Areas such as Madadzhi, Tswika, Slanger and Luthethe are also affected. Residents of all these villages rely on streams and dams for water.

The spokesperson for the Vhembe District municipality, Mr Ndivhuwo Mamathuba, dismissed claims that there is no progress as far as the reservoir project is concerned. “We have appointed a new contractor, because the first contractor was unable to complete the job. Now that the new contractor is appointed, the projects will be completed,” he said.

He added that they were also waiting for Eskom to connect electricity to the pumping stations. “We believe that it won’t be long before the problem of water shortage in the area will be a thing of the past,” said Mamathuba.