MEDIA STATEMENT
TO ALL MEDIA
26 OCTOBER 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHAIRPERSON OF LEPELLE NORTHERN WATER JOE MATHEBULA PARTICIPATED IN THE MEETING CALLED BY KING THULARE IN MOHLALETSI (SEKHUKHUNE DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY)
The chairperson (Joe Mathebula) of Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) accompanied by the acting Chief Executive (Ahuiwi Netshidaulu) was invited to the meeting called by King Thulare for addressing the Bapedi Chiefs under his leadership of the plans that he have for Bapedi Royal.
The indicated that when taking over LNW, he inherited some challenges that damaged the reputation of the entity. His immediate action is to re-brand the organisation and also push the government agenda as per the NDP 2030 of establishing LNW as a Regional Water Utility. This include amongst others taking over the over R100 million schemes within Vhembe (Nandoni, Vondo, Malamulele East and Xikundu Water schemes), Sekhukhune (De Hoop, Flab Boshielo and Olifantspoort schemes) and Mopani (Middle Letaba, Ritavi, Thabina and Tours). He further indicated that Lebalelo Water User Association will be incorporated into LNW as part of building the Regional Water Utility.
Bringing it closer to home (Sekhukhune District) the chairperson highlighted the key projects that need attention as well as their estimated completion timeframes as indicated below:
- Mooihoek/Burgersfort Water Supply – estimated to be completed by March 2021
- Nebo bulk water supply – estimated to be completed by March 2021
- Moutse Drought Relief Project – estimated to be completed by December 2020
- Flag Boshielo water treatment works upgrade – estimated to be completed November 2020
The chairperson also highlighted other projects that are in other districts that are earmarked to be brought to finality and in Mopani the projects are listed below:
- Giyani Water Service to be completed by August 2021
- Nandoni to Nsami 49km pipeline to be completed by September 2022
- Babanana/Nkambako pipeline project by March 2022
In Capricorn the following projects are in the radar of the chairperson that they should be brought to finality as well i.e. upgrade of Olifantspoort scheme from 60 – 120 Ml/day – which is under planning and Olifants River Water Resources Development (ORWRDP) that will be completed subject to the availability of funding.
In terms of the water scarcity the chairperson shared the status of these Dams that are below 15% i.e. Doorndraai @9.3%, Glen Alpine @9.2%, Ebenezer @12.3%, Tzaneen @10.2% and Middle Letaba @ 1.2%. He indicated the need to use water sparingly to those who are receiving water at the moment while exploring other means of bringing water to the communities such as sand water extraction, which has been successful in other parts of Mopani District.
The chairperson also touched on the issues of tariff setting, indicating that it should be categorised into developmental tariff (domestic or social) and commercial tariff (business and industries) and then engage the National Government on the developmental tariff for funding the gap due to high rate of unemployment.
Mr Joe Mathebula indicated that the success of the above statements and promises will depend the integrated planning and implementation, using the limited resources with care, availability of financial and skilled human resources and structured operations and maintenance amongst others.
Enquiries: Communication Officer (Mr. Simon Mpamonyane @015 295 1800 ) and/or Acting Chief Executive (Mr. Ahuiwi Netshidaulu @ )
Issued by Lepelle Northern Water Board
