By The lack of service delivery in Maluti-A-Phofung (MAP), Qwa-qwa has seen residents having to live without water for long periods; though they have protested, complained and have done whatever they could to get their plight attended to, all they received were promises but the problem still persists to date.
Some of the residents have made some arrangements to get water for cooking, bathing, cleaning and for other use. The residents say using the toilet is quite a challenge during the long periods of no water supply in their areas; as such, they have arranged for someone to fetch water for them in town from a fire hydrant.
The residents say they are tired of waking up to dry taps coupled with power outages that also last for days and even weeks. Local businesses are being negatively affected by this; as such some have to close early as they are water intensive businesses.
Rise Mzansi, led by its Free State Province Convenor Nomsa Machesi, marched to the Maluti-A-Phofung municipality headquarters on 6 February 2024, to handover a memorandum of demand to the municipality demanding service delivery including uninterrupted supply of clean water to residents as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) Section 27(1).
“In South Africa all spheres of government are responsible to manage water resources, but municipalities are specifically responsible for the service delivery of water and sanitation to its residence. In this instance the Maluti-A- Pofung Local Municipality is responsible to make sure that there is continuous service delivery of water and sanitation services to its entire municipality and that is not the case,” said Nomsa Marchesi.
Rise Mzansi demanded that the municipality: Provide at least 6000 litres of water per household. Provide a flow rate of not less than 10 litres per minute within 200 meters of a strand. Cannot allow any consumer to be without water for more than seven days a year; provide a toilet or ventilated pit latrine, which is safe, reliable, environmentally sound, easy to clean, provides privacy and protection against the weather, well ventilated, keeps smells to a minimum and prevents the entry of flies and other disease carrying pets.
The Business Weekly made an inquiry to MAP, the Spokesperson of the municipality Thabo Kessah said MAP water will be in a better position to respond to water supply issues. We sent a media inquiry to MAP and made numerous follow ups about a month ago, to date the water board has not responded yet.
