On Wednesday, 23 July 2014, the North West Provincial Legislature's Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Human Settlement held a meeting with Lekwa-Teemane and the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati Municipality at the Bloemhof Council Chamber.
The meeting was held after a researcher of the Committee had established the following in the Bloemhof area; that the capacity of the water cleaning plant was not operating on its full potential; some days water was coming out dirty in the mornings; the big reservoir was not cleaned which will result in water supply being cut for few days to allow Sedibeng water to clean it; that there were still sewer leakages unattended which poses a big health risk to the community and; that the newly establishment sewer plant had been vandalised, cables stolen and machinery destroyed and that would cost R7 million to fix.
The Deputy Manager in Engineering in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality, Mr Fred Cawood, concurred with the research findings in his presentation stating that the spillage and contamination was caused by deliberate blockages on water and sewage plants; water pollution by local factories; historical problems of operational maintenance; capacity of sewage not sufficient; shortage of skilled and specialised personnel to operate the plant as there are no operators working on shifts and lack of skilled personnel who have technical capacity to maintain the plants yet the demand grows annually.
The Municipal Manager, Mr Ndoda Ngengo, also added that the municipality had challenges of employment policies that stipulate that the municipality must advertise internally before seeking external staff.
The Committee recommended that both municipalities must write a joint letter to the Department of Water and Sanitation to request them to honour on the promise of R20 million that was pledged by the department in its intervention to fix water problems in this municipality.
Chairperson of the Committee, Hon. Raymond Elisha said the intervention is a good measure but if it is not funded, it will be a burden to the municipality as they will have to take money from other projects to pay for the services of Sedibeng water.
"The municipality must also hold regular community meetings to help safe guard water resources in their area. There should be a skills transfers from all the companies such as Sedibeng Water to assist the municipal officials on operating the plants. The contractor on the vandalised treatment plant must submit completion certificate to determine liability and the plant must be refurbished as soon as possible," said Hon. Elisha.
He said the municipality must follow up on report cases of vandalism on the plants with the South African Police Service.
Enquiries:
Namhla Luhabe, Deputy Manager - Communications
North West Provincial Legislature
Tel: 018 392 7000
Cell: 079 527 0628
Fax: 086 695 3784
E-mail: namhla@nwpl.org.za
