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Mantsopa Local Municipality's inadequate handling of the water crisis in the area during the prevailing heatwave is nothing short of gross negligence.

Bloemwater, the primary water supplier to Excelsior, conducted maintenance on 22 and 23 November, causing a complete water supply outage. Unfortunately, Mantsopa and the community were not informed of this scheduled maintenance, leaving the town dependent on boreholes for five days until supply was restored on 27 November. This disruption resulted in empty pipelines, causing an ongoing water shortage, leaving residents with only 2 to 3 hours of water supply daily.

Despite significant investments in infrastructure, the boreholes' capacity is insufficient to meet the water demand of Excelsior and Mahlatswetsa. The purification plant, funded with millions of Rands for raw water supply, is also operating below capacity.

During the heatwave, Ladybrand, Mauersnek, and Manyatseng have endured up to six days without a water supply. Mantsopa Municipal Manager, Matiro Mogopoli, has not provided any explanation as to why the newly appointed director of community services, Tseli Lesoetsa, has not treated this as a disaster and deployed water tanks to affected areas in greater Ladybrand.

Rather than addressing the crisis, the Municipal Manager's communication department, under her instruction, blames loadshedding for the municipality's inability to supply water. The DA proposed a simple solution during a March 2022 strategic planning session – installing a generator to keep the pump running during loadshedding. Regrettably, these findings, which could have alleviated the situation, were not presented to the Council, resulting in a fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R45,000 reported to the AG by the DA.

The lack of proactive measures since loadshedding's inception in 2008 and the Mayor's failure to hold the MM accountable is alarming. We call on the municipality to implement the DA's earlier proposal of installing a generator to ensure an uninterrupted water supply during loadshedding. The DA will actively engage with relevant authorities to address this issue promptly. Timely intervention could have averted this disaster, preventing unnecessary suffering.

We are committed to bringing change across the country and therefore urge all residents to register to vote in the 2024 National and Provincial Government elections.

Issued by Lyle Bouwer and Dewald Hattingh - DA Councillors Mantsopa Local Municipality