“Your water supply is under threat. It worries me,” concluded the DA shadow minister of Water Affairs after a visit to the Makhado Local Municipality.

The DA made serious noises that Louis Trichardt will be taken as a test case in parliament. The end result will be to hold the responsible persons financially accountable. Placing Makhado Municipality under administration would be a last resort.

A high-profile Democratic Alliance delegation arrived in Louis Trichardt on April 8 as part of a tour through Limpopo to investigate water affairs.

The DA delegation consisted of two members of parliament and three members of the provincial legislature. They were MP Annette Lovemore, shadow minister of Water Affairs, MP Gareth Morgan, shadow minister of Environmental Affairs, MPL Desireé van der Walt, DA leader in Limpopo, MPL Jacques Smalle, DA Chairperson in Limpopo and MPL Meisie Kennedy, Constituency Head DA Vhembe. Local DA Councillor Brian du Plooy accompanied them to all the problem sites.

“Every municipality must have a water services development plan and how to deal with sewage, and budget accordingly. They are supposed to submit it to the minister. But in the case of the Makhado Municipality, it is not happening,” said shadow minister Lovemore.

The delegation investigated and discussed serious water issues such as the dysfunctional sewerage plant, the stream of sewerage flowing 25m from boreholes, sewerage flowing into the veld, the new reservoir built halfway and left for more than a year, and problems with the water quality and testing thereof. The chairperson of the Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association, Mr Frans Prinsloo, later joined the discussion.

“We will keep fighting to improve your water situation. Limpopo has a 52% compliance on Waste Water Treatment, a good example of things going wrong. We have tools that we can use in parliament and we also interact directly with the Director General. If you harp on certain issues, it quite often bears fruit,” said Lovemore. It was said that the ratepayers had the knowledge of what was happening on the ground and the DA had access to political avenues. They should take hands to ensure services.

Van der Walt said that there had been no improvement since her visit in September 2007. “Minister Lindiwe Hendricks came in November 2008, but instructions have not been implemented. They do not have a clue about long-term planning and getting the sewage plant operational,” she said.

Smalle explained the seriousness of a situation where, despite instructions from the highest level, implementation has not begun.

“We want the minister to realise that ministerial instructions had not been followed. They might, as a last resort, advise that the Makhado Municipality be put under administration until such a date that they can render services acceptable to the ratepayers. Regarding the water, it would be acceptable if the water capacity were restored and they had acceptable management of the sewage,” Smalle said.

The water supply threat is serious, since the boreholes that supply 25% of the town’s water are under threat of pollution. The reservoir at Mowcop has not been completed and there are problems with the construction of the pipelines from the Nandoni dam. The reservoir that was being constructed, a project of R30 million, was not built according to specifications and cannot be used. Smalle said that they would fight for the construction of a totally new reservoir.

“We want to use Louis Trichardt as an experimental case to hold officials responsible for poor planning and management,” Smalle said.

Makhado Municipality’s Director of Technical Services, Mr Thivho Ralulimi, said two weeks ago that he was waiting for a copy of the implementation plan regarding the sewage works and has not responded to voice messages since.