Question NW2880 to the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
18 December 2020 - NW2880
Mohlala, Ms MR to ask the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation
Given that the Dr J S Moroka Local Municipality in Mpumalanga has collapsed due to maladministration, where R18 million that was meant for drought relief was stolen and R8 million was spent on 10 boreholes while residents buy water from tankers owned by local councillors, what plans has her department put in place to ensure that the community of the Nkangala District in the specified municipality is connected to bulk infrastructure services of her department, such as water and sanitation?
Reply:
(a) The Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality relies on raw water supply from the Mkhombo Dam which is located North West of Siyabuswa. The dam level has drastically declined to approximately 2% due to severe drought being experienced in the Eland River Catchment Area. In order to assist in addressing the drought at the municipality, the following measures have been put in place and/or are proposed:
(i) As a short term relief measure, the Department has allocated 64 water storage tanks for the Dr JS Moroka Municipality. The interventions included the supply, delivery and installation of the water storage tanks in areas identified by the Municipality. However, due to inadequate sources of bulk water supply as a result of the ongoing scourge of drought in the Western Highveld, the municipality is unable to fill up the installed water storage tanks regularly.
(ii) In the medium term, there is a joint partnership intervention with the Mpumalanga Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Nkangala District Municipality to support the Dr JS Local Municipality with the drilling of 19 boreholes through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant at an estimated cost of R12,2 million. The boreholes are expected to be completed within the 2020/21 municipal financial year.
Furthermore, there are approved interventions in place that are currently being undertaken and implemented as a matter of urgency to address the current water supply shortages in the Dr JS Moroka local municipality due to the prevailing drought that include:
- Refurbishment of the bulk pipelines from Mthombo Balancing Dam to the Weltevreden Water Treatment Plant raw water abstraction works;
- Refurbishment of the Mthombo Weireir.
These interventions will provide 6 mega litres of water per day on completion. The cost of the interventions were assessed and quantified to be R40.5 million, and were recommended by the Department of Water and Sanitation for implementation under the Municipal Infrastructure Grant. The expected completion date for these interventions is 30 September 2021.
(iii) In the long term, the bulk water requirements for the Mathanjana Cluster in the Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality shall be addressed through the Rust de Winter Bulk Water Supply Scheme. The proposed bulk water scheme project is at the Implementation Readiness Study and will be completed within the current financial year. The project implementation is expected to start in 2021/22 national financial year. The scheme is intended to serve the western part of the municipality, targeting a population of 88 000, projected over a 20-year horizon.