Programme director
Premier of the Limpopo province, Comrade Cassel Mathale
Members of the Executive Council
Mayors of District and Local Municipalities
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
We are gathered here today in the midst of the most serious water crisis in the Mopani District. As a responsive and caring government, we cannot remain detached and aloof from the plight of almost 800 000 people who are affected by this water crisis. I am sure that many of you will recall the water crisis that gripped Giyani in 1998. We thought that we had solved it then. However, the present crisis is unique as clearly indicated by its own characteristics. We have no option but to rise to the occasion emboldened by the conviction that Together, we can do more to improve the quality of the lives of our people.
During 2008, our department undertook a review of the water supply to Giyani from the Middle Letaba Dam. It became apparent that whilst the initial long-term planning of my Department had indicated that Giyani's water supply would come from the Middle Letaba Dam, the current situation indicates that Giyani has been relying on the Nsami Dam for basic supply. Nsami Dam's agricultural water has not been used for irrigation as planned. Instead, it has been used for domestic use within Giyani.
This situation indicates that the supply within Giyani is unreliable, mainly due to operational constraints as well as long-term measures to secure the supply. As we speak with you today, the Middle Letaba Dam is just below 6%, and the Nsami Dam below three percent. This situation requires urgent and decisive action.
Programme director, our department has been engaged with relevant provincial departments and municipalities in order to draw up an action plan that is both relevant and responsive to the plight of the people of Giyani and its surrounding areas. Our department has also been working with the District Municipality to plan and implement emergency actions. We have instituted measures to improve the water supply from groundwater sources, by drilling, testing, and equipping boreholes in the vicinity of Giyani.
We have also taken measures to utilise the "dead water storage" in the Middle Letaba Dam. The "dead water storage" means the water that would ordinarily be left in the dam and not drawn down in order to preserve aquatic life in the dam. However, in this crisis, we would like to access this water to alleviate shortages in Giyani.
We have to use this water sparingly. We have to use the water to simply “buy” us time whilst we secure more reliable sources in both the medium and long term. In this regard, we shall be implementing water use restrictions on both agricultural users along the canal that links Middle Letaba Dam to Giyani, as well as domestic uses. These restrictions will soon be published in the Government Gazette.
We urge all our users to adhere to the restrictions as these are meant to elongate the period of supply from the limited water in the dam. We have to work together in order to save the situation. We would not like to see the department and municipalities having to take drastic enforcement measures such as arresting users who do not adhere to the restrictions!
In addition, we have commissioned several measures to secure the medium-term water supply by securing the treated water supply from the Nandoni Dam using existing pipelines, and upgrading the supply from other sources. This intervention involves reversing the flows of the water in the pipelines linking Mapuve water works with Mudabula reservoir in the Malamulele West area. This measure will also involve the construction of a new pipeline which links Mapuve to Giyani. It is estimated that this measure will be completed by the end of the year.
Over the long term, and in order to find a more reliable water source for Giyani, we are finalising plans to link the Nandoni Dam to the Giyani system. We will also review the possible link of the future Nwamitwa Dam, on the Groot Letaba River, near Tzaneen, to the Giyani area. These measures will ensure that the various parts of the province are inter-linked in order to allow the transfer of water from one basin to the next in times of crisis.
In view of the above, our department has resolved that the Mopani District (Greater Giyani) area is a drought-stricken area. This decision is as a result of the persistent water shortages from the planned resource of Middle Letaba Dam, and the inability of Mopani DM (the water services authority) to operate the water services infrastructure efficiently.
We look forward to our partners in the District Municipality Disaster Management structures in cooperating and implementing the remedial steps necessary to alleviate these water shortages in Giyani.
As you are all aware, the responsibility for water services rests with municipal government. However, if local government fails to respond to the needs of the population, other spheres of government have to intervene to fill this gap.
In our response to the crisis, we have estimated the need for R250 million to resolve the short and long-term crisis. Some of these programmes are being implemented immediately as we speak. Some will be implemented in the short-term before the end of the year. And still others will be implemented within the next twelve to eighteen months. The department shall still monitor implementation of these emergency programmes through the disaster management structures.
These programmes shall not only ensure that people within Mopani District Municipality address our immediate water needs, but that they meet the immediate needs for job-creation.
In conclusion, Programme director, I wish to express our fervent wish that this crisis will help the various spheres of government to re-focus our energies on executing our Constitutional mandates in support of our people who look to us to deliver services to them.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Water and Environmental Affairs
4 August 2009
