Water shortages will possibly be a thing of the past for communities in Malamulele and surrounding areas in the Thulamela local municipality, thanks to the Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo’s efforts to fight the scarcity of water.

The spokesperson for the Vhembe District Municipality, Mr Moss Shibambu, said the municipality had set aside R10,3 million this financial year to construct a 5.2-kilometer pipeline from the Nandoni Dam situated in Thohoyandou and to connect a reservoir from Mavambe to Malamulele township.

“Our people cannot afford to suffer with the scarcity of water, as the Nandoni Dam is full to capacity. We admi that many of our areas are without clean water, but we are ready to change the situation for the better,” said Shibambu.

According to Shibambu, the Malamulele Water Supply scheme project is expected to start in April this year and to be completed in September 2010. He said that, during the construction period, the project would create more than 20 employment opportunities.

Shibambu was also excited that their plans of delivering basic services to the poor communities received a further boost during Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale’s state-of-the province address recently, when he declared that the provision of basic services which ensures access to water, sanitation and electricity cannot be compromised. “In this financial year, we plan to provide water to more than one million households in the province who are without water in their villages. The focus will be on areas identified as being in distress, such as Giyani, where we will be constructing a water pipe from Nandoni to Giyani,” said Mathale in his address.

Community members in Malamulele and surrounding areas such as Mavambe strongly applauded the efforts of the municipality as another way of changing their live for the better. Meanwhile, the Vhembe District Municipality has just completed the R14 million Mutale water project, which started by connecting a water pipeline from Mutale River to serve the Helula, Ngalavhani, Ha-Mabila and Gwangwatini rural communities.