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Community members queue for water.
Some Lichtenburg residents in the troubled Ditsobotla Local Municipality in the North West say chronic water shortages in the area are disrupting their festive season plans.
This is as water shortages are worsening in Lichtenburg and other surrounding areas such as Coligny and Blydeville.
Residents have been without water for weeks due to dysfunctional water infrastructure.
Many communities within the jurisdiction of Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality have been experiencing prolonged water shortages. Frustrated residents say they are not enjoying their festive season as usual, due to water problems.
A resident says, “If we don’t have water in our tank, we can’t accommodate our families during the festive season. How are we going to attend to them?”
Meanwhile, Naude Pienaar, from the Ditsobotla Services Association says they intend taking the authorities to court.
“We believe that we going to court again in January but that is not only water related, it is services related because the same way we are struggling with water, we are struggling with all other services in Ditsobotla. There are no other services in Ditsobotla, that is why we decided to take them to court, again to give us the opportunity, to allow us as the paying public to take charge of our municipality and do what we think should be done to give services to the people of Ditsobotla.”
VIDEO| Other North West municipalities including Ngaka Modiri Molema District are also experiencing water shortages.
Meanwhile, Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality Mayor Khumalo Molefe says the recent water problem in Lichtenburg and surrounding areas in the North West has been caused by water infrastructure that was damaged by lightening.
Molefe says they have started restoring water supply in some areas.
“We have since had this infrastructure repaired particularly on the part of energy. We have also repaired all our boreholes, and I can report that out of the 17 boreholes, 15 of them are optimally operational and therefore our people in the CBD, our people in Boikhutso and Blydeville have begun to receive water.”
