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Residents of the former Mier area are struggling without basic services, leaving residents of Drieboom to travel seven kilometres into Rietfontein to fill up on unpurified borehole water from private residences. See attached video clip here and pics here, here and here.

This is the extent to which service delivery in wards 16 and 17 of Dawid Kruiper has deteriorated, following the amalgamation of the Mier and Khara Hais municipalities in 2016. Given the high costs of providing services to far outlying areas like Swartkopdam, Welkom, Drieboom, Mooitrap and other settlements, services have ground to a halt for this rural community.

Currently, residents of Swartkopdam don’t have purified water. They used to have a desalination apparatus attached to their borehole but it no longer works and their water cannot be purified for drinking. The municipality last supplied a tanker of water to Swartkopdam on 14 June, but that has since run out, leaving people dependent on unpurified borehole water.

A resident, Elvis Bock of Drieboom, has to use his donkey cart to access borehole water, not just for his family but for his livestock as well. This is because the once operational borehole at Drieboom, that was equipped with a solar pump and a tank, has been out of order since the solar pump was removed a couple of years ago.

Residents of Welkom only get water either in the evening or in the morning and fill up containers when their taps happen to be flowing.

The lack of services in former Mier extends beyond the lack of water provision and there are areas that are without toilets and other sanitation services. Refuse removal is also insufficient and highly irregular.

Given that municipalities have a mandate, according to Section 152(1)(b) of the Municipal Structures Act to provide residents with potable water, sanitation and refuse removal services, the situation cannot be allowed to continue. It constitutes a human rights violation.

The DA has tabled a motion asking Council to urgently develop a plan to ensure that basic services reach wards 16 and 17 on a sustainable and effective basis and that funding is sourced or reallocated to ensure that service delivery to this area is no longer neglected. We also requested that Council must approach the MEC of COGHSTA, to initiate a review of funding towards Dawid Kruiper, to take into consideration personnel costs of the former Mier municipality. A timeframe must also be attached to this.

Issued by Magda Eiman, Cllr - Dawid Kruiper municipality