As part of Nelson Mandela Day celebrations and in line with the department’s effort to make water accessible to everyone, the Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi handed over a Water Package Plant to the Maname village community in the Vhembe District Municipality on Friday, 20 July 2012.
The Package Plant is meant to address high salt concentrations on the borehole water that the community is currently surviving on. The package plant is installed about 8 mitres from the borehole and at the following coordinates, latitude: 22.8961ᵒS and longitude: 29.9288ᵒE. It has the capacity to treat 0.2 mega litres per day (2.31l/s). There are 7 904 community members who will benefit from the Plant.
In her address to the community members present at the handing over ceremony, Mabudafhasi said ‘We do this in honour of Madiba’s values and in celebration of his life. We are instilling a culture of giving and doing good unto one another as these are Madiba’s values. We are inspired by a clarion call he made during his inaugural address in May 1994 when he said: “We must therefore act together as a united people, for a national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new word, - .Let there be peace for all, let there be work, bread, water and salt for all”.
She encouraged the community to take care of one another and share the little they have. She indicated that the fight for freedom was to ensure that people have access to services including water. She also alerted people that with the climate change approaching, it will be more difficult for the country to secure enough water which will make it difficult for people to access water by 2050 if they are not saving water now.
“We are doing all we can as government to ensure that we always have enough water, however there are people who are slowing the service delivery progress such as those vandalising the resources. Let us help the government to find these perpetrators” she said The Deputy Minister also applauded the community members for their participation on the water delivery process in terms of giving inputs on how the water challenges can be resolved saying it was key in bettering people’s lives.
Expressing how she felt about the new water plant, one of the community members, Mr Phineus Maphari said, ‘I am pleased to realise that our government cares about us and I wish that what happened here today must not end here but should also extend to our neighbouring villages that are still without clean water, The package plant has brought relief to us as we were surviving on salty water which is not drinkable. We will do all within our powers to protect this resource from vandalism.
Vhembe district municipality is one of the 21 district municipalities prioritised by the Cabinet Lekgotla 2011 for special attention to ensure that backlogs in basic services are addressed. The department has been working with the Water Services Authority (WSA) to verify the communities and households without basic water supply the Vhembe District Municipality is largely dependent on ground water for water provision and surface water is accounted for through Nandoni, Tshakhuma, Albasini, Middle Letaba, Mutshedzi , Nwanedi , Luphephe ,Nzhelele and Damani dams.
Maname community receives water package plant
