President Jacob Zuma and Cabinet Ministers visit Xanthia village that is receiving drinking water
Xanthia, a small village in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, is an example of government’s efforts to deliver drinking water in far flung rural areas, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane, said on Friday 6 November.
She was addressing thousands of residents from Bushbuckridge villages at Thulamahashi Stadium where President Jacob Zuma had paid a visit as part of the Siyahlola programme.
Minister Mokonyane identified the village of Xanthia as an example where the government has intervened decisively to ensure that local communities got clean drinking water.
Xanthia is one of the 25 villages in Bushbuckridge that are benefitting from the revamped Inyaka Water Treatment Plant. The first phase of water supply in Xanthia is almost complete with 98% of households receiving clean drinking water.
Minister Mokonyane said more than 500 people now have work while others were trained as pipe welders and crane drivers, while another 800 job opportunities will be created through construction management. Many local contractors from Bushbuckridge are now doing business in ensuring that water is connected and those companies include Malo Contractors, Lemjo Sivuthumlilo JV, Seletje Construction and Management, Shirdo Trading and many others.
“70% of the appointed contractors are local contractors. Furthermore, all appointed contractors have agreed to subcontract to smaller local contractors. Procurement of material has been restricted mainly to the Mpumalanga Province. All maintenance work is done in house and it is no longer outsourced.”
However, the Minister said the project of supplying water in Bushbuckridge villages was not without challenges, the main one being the illegal connections to the bulk pipeline
that supplied water from the revamped Inyaka Water Treatment Plant. The other problem was that of ageing infrastructure which needed to be upgraded to ensure the sustainable supply of water to new villages such as Xanthia.
“A preliminary assessment of the level of water use efficiency and the level of Non-Revenue Water (unaccounted for water) in the Inyaka Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) and water supply area indicates that the total system losses are very high. It was estimated that the total system losses in the supply area of the Inyaka WWTW is approximately 40% of the treated water production.”
“Unauthorized connections are also receiving attention. It was found that the majority of the 42% households that have yard connections were connected through unauthorized connections; this further undermines the functionality of the existing infrastructure. Illegal yard connections are now being upgraded.”
President Zuma, accompanied by a delegation of 13 Ministers, visited three houses in Xanthia to see for himself progress made around water supply in the village. The delegation was met by ululating women who expressed satisfaction with government service delivery in Xanthia.
The President later addressed thousands of Bushbuckridge villagers and promised that the government would fight corruption and nepotism in order to ensure that every citizen benefitted from service delivery projects
“Bushbuckridge is a water scarce area. At least 70% of the communities here are without bulk water supply. Almost 60% are without tap water and at least 75% without yard water connection.”
“The majority of the communities still rely on water from the boreholes. While the situation remains difficult, there is an improvement through interventions by government through the Department of Water and Sanitation, working through its utility Rand Water and also with the Mpumalanga provincial government.”
“More than twenty thousand yard connections have been made in the first two phases of reticulation in about 38 villages in this area,” the President said
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