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The DA will write to the Public Protector to request an urgent investigation into the dodgy borehole development by the Mopani District Municipality (MDM).

Since 2017, the MDM spent millions of Rands on borehole development, refurbishment and all sorts of interesting borehole related items with no future planning for sustainable water provisions for all the communities.

As far back as 2017, borehole development and refurbishment was prominent in the Adjustment Budget.

R122 million was budgeted for and during the February 2017 Adjustment Budget it was topped up with a further R32 000 000.

The DA was very concerned that the municipality spent so much money on this because council received no corroborating reports on the number, GPS positioning and other vital information for these boreholes.

We were further concerned that there was no justification for these boreholes or how our communities benefit from these allocations.

In the Adjustment Budget of 2018/19 R23 million was again allocated for borehole repairs.

We believe that borehole development is the one place where corruption seems to flourish. It seems that this item on the annual MDM budget is an ideal hunting ground for corrupt cadres and their political connected friends.

In the rollover report tabled in 2019 (Item SCD/14/2019), R12 247 361.95 were spent for drought relief on borehole development / refurbishment including

the development of a new borehole at Mphagani village by Mashale Construction at the cost of R749 986.30 and the refurbishment of a borehole at Ga-Daniel by Lokolong Plant Hire for R538 200.00

It seems that no specific amount was pre-approved for the development of new boreholes and no borehole number was provided as it must be registered on the database kept by the Department of Water and Sanitation.

In the Adjustment Budget of 2019/20, which was tabled, a further

R53.5 million was utilized for emergency water provision in the rural areas in terms of refurbishment of boreholes.

During the virtual Special Council meeting which was held on Monday 15 June 2020, a special Adjustment Budget was tabled to spend a further R20 764 000 on 20 borehole projects under Capital Expenditure.

The DA believes that the drilling of boreholes, refurbishment and ground water development is the preferred way in which millions of Rands are disappearing into certain well-connected pockets.

The DA is very concerned that with the population growth and with no planning for the development of more dams, the people in MDM will run out of water soon, especially during persistent droughts.

 We call on the Public Protector to investigate the excessive and irrational spending on boreholes and to make findings as to who really benefits from this corrupt spending.

Issued by The DA