“The Department of Water and Sanitation will hasten the process of ensuring that the community of Ga-Malekana in Sekhukhune, Limpopo, has access to water”, Deputy Minister Dikeledi Magadzi said.

This follows complaints by the Ga-Malekana residents that despite their proximity to De Hoop Dam, years after the completion of the multi-million rand dam, they still struggled to access potable water at their households. Some have resorted to illegally connecting water to the main pipeline that distributes water from the dam to Jane Furse.

This, unfortunately, leads to infrastructure destruction and water losses. Addressing the community, political and traditional leaders at a meeting on Friday 01 October 2021, Magadzi assured the residents that her department was working hard to ensure their access to water.

She dismissed claims that she visited the area to canvass for votes during the forthcoming Local Government Elections as unfounded.

She said the political leadership of the Department had been instructed by President Ramaphosa when he appointed them to prioritise water and sanitation and get to the rootcause of the problem of water services in the country.

“Minister Mchunu, Deputy Minister Mahlobo, and I are working around the clock to address the water challenges throughout the country. As a result, we stretch ourselves to different parts of South Africa to try and address water issues and we are confident to get it right,” Magadzi said.

She said in the past two months Minister Mchunu and his deputies had visited the Free State, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, and Limpopo to meet the leadership of water parastatals, Mayors, and Premiers to discuss their respective water challenges.

Mchunu is scheduled to soon visit the Giyani Bulk Water Scheme with a view to find a speedy solution to the project.

Today, 04 October, Mchunu is visiting Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality in QwaQwa, and later in the week, from 05 – 07 October, he is scheduled to visit Gauteng with the purpose of getting to the bottom of water challenges and finding ways of addressing them.