The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Mr Senzo Mchunu, has noted with great concern, a poster doing the rounds on social media, advising of a “Giyani Shut Down” tomorrow, 3 October 2022. The poster lists a number of items as the reason for the ‘shut down’, citing amongst others: 14 years of unfinished Nandoni water project, a demand for clean water and doing away with corrupt officials.
In his ‘One Year in Office’ media briefing on the 26th of August 2022, Minister Mchunu gave a detailed update on the Giyani Water Project, stating: “On the Giyani Water Project, substantial progress has been made in respect of the pipeline from Nandoni to Nsami; we have 4km left for the connection. Work will get underway at the beginning of September to refurbish the existing water works. In Malamulele, we anticipate the reservoir to be completed and operational by February 2023”. Currently, there is now just under 2km left, excluding the connection from the river to the dam – which is about 720 meters.
Owing to the delays which have plagued the project, including work stoppages which came about as a result of concerns raised by Chief Ramohva, which took three weeks to resolve, it should be noted that the Minister decided to intervene and speed up proceesses via the Department’s Construction North Unit. As things currently stand, progress is as follows:
- Giyani Bulk Secondary Water Supply Intervention: 56.8% (the remaining works including connections to the reservoirs and refurbishment / construction of service reservoirs)
- Giyani Water Treatment Works upgrade and Phase 1 reticutaltion to 55 villages: construction to commence in November 2022
- Nandoni to Nsami bulk pipeline: overall project to be completed by November 2022.
In responding to the poster, Minister Mchunu expressed the following: “The Giyani Water Project has always been a priority project for the Ministry; it is unfortunate and regrettable that it has taken this long to provide the people of Giyani with clean water, but I want to assure the residents that we are hard at work and will see the project to completion. We have been in Office for just over a year, yet we have managed to do more than what was done in the past three years - that should be an indication of our commitment to seeing this project to finality!
“The residents of Giyani and the local business forum, through the Mopani Multi stakeholder Forum have been taken on board in respect of the progress of the project and its delays; we have remained transparent - both in respect of the progress and financials. One of the issues which has caused a delay, which was addressed at one of the Multi stakeholder Forum meetings was the awarding of security contracts by the Department’s Construction North Unit. This project has been and still is the subject of a number of investigations by the Special Investigating Unit. Corruption has been the major contributor to the prolonged delays and as we have repeatedly maintained – every cent is being followed and those entrusted with those functions will have to account! All we ask from the residents is their co-operation – we are committed to providing them with clean water as their basic human right and we will achieve this!
“We are appealing to those behind the shutdown to be realistic and acknowledge that water has arrived in Giyani. There are ongoing update briefings, and this represents progress which has never been seen before and we therefore request that we be given time to catch up and complete the project. I will in due course, go to Giyani to monitor progress and consult with all the relevant stakeholders”.
For more information, contact Sputnik Ratau, Spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation on 082 874 2942 / Kamogelo Mogotsi, Spokesperson for the Ministry at 076 523 0085
