Tswelelang - Thousands and thousands of litres of water goes to waste due to infrastructure problems
The Maquassi Hills Municipality which is struggling to supply some areas with water cannot resolve service delivery issues as they continue to pile up
The municipality is plagued by continuous pipe bursts from main water stations supplying a number of areas with water, sewer spills/blockages and poor infrastructure. Many of these issues go unreported by residents
The municipality has been battling to supply some sections with water
A mainhole in Tambo 4, Tswelelang near the (R505) road leading to Makwassie, lots of water has spilled for hours without being reported
The struggling municipality does not have enough funds to resolve poor infrastructure
A community activist, Kagiso Sejamoholo Phutiagae sent a letter to Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Sello Seitlholo regarding the water crisis residents of Maquassi Hills continue to face, Seitlholo quickly responded, promising to have a look at the matter
Phutiagae said he's been encountering community members who are facing water crisis running around seeking water on daily basis
Some residents are not receiving water at all from the taps, prompting them to fetch water at far areas
"Today I encountered people of Extension 10, in Tswelelang location facing water crisis, they said it's been weeks without water. Often I meet residents of Ext 17 and Ext 15 with buckets running around wanting water" - Community activist, Kagiso Sejamoholo Phutiage
In the Ext 17 and 18 areas in Tswelelang, some households do not have taps installed in the yards as the budget has not been tabled, residents are forced on daily basis to draw water far from their homes. This has been a daily struggle for these residents
However, the Maquassi Hills Municipality is continuing to provide these residents with a supply-reliever of water tanks
It is not only in Tswelelang where residents continues to face water supply challenges, in Lebaleng, community members there have seen horrible series of drawing water from mainholes
Community members in the area said, this problem doesn't start now, it has been there for years
"The water problem doesn't start now, it has been an ongoing issue for quite a number of years" - Lebaleng residents
Residents said, to survive, they relied on use of dirty water from the mainholes in their area
" We are used to drawing water from manholes, we don't have adequate water supply from our yards, we do have water connections, but some of us don't have taps. We draw water from manholes for laundry, for boiling in order to drink or have medication with the water we boil" - Lebaleng residents
Other residents are concern about their health as the water was not safe for consumption
In other news, the service provider, Magalies Water, has been responsible with providing residents with adequate water supply, however, the supplier was predicted to go bankrupt by June this year, but, Magalies continues to be the service provider for Maquassi Hills Municipality - it was reported that, the water utility is owed millions of rands by municipalities including Maquassi Hills
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Updated: September 2025
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