The residents of Ward 9 in Madibogo Village in the North West say they gamble with their lives daily when for their survival, they are forced to use unsafe water from rivers where animals and livestock also drink
The community which falls under the Ratlou Local Municipality have claimed to have not had access to clean water for well over a decade.
Their representative, Itumeleng Moabinyane, said sharing water with animals has led to a high number of cases of people suffering from illnesses with some parents complaining that their children are often sick from drinking unhygienic water.
“What hurts the most is that animals also drink from that water. Imagine cows and dogs drinking the same water that they urinate in afterwards.
“Right now schools are open, but children don’t have clean water for bathing. Some parents have told us that their children are often sick because of the water they drink. So now we are pleading for help. We are only asking for clean water, is that too much to ask?” Moabinyane said.
He said a commitment by the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality to install a borehole has since been unfulfilled.
“We went to the Ngaka Modiri Molema District municipality and they bore about three holes for boreholes. The project was abandoned since we were told that water samples were taken for tests to ensure that it was safe for consumption.
“Even now we are still waiting for the results of those samples. No one is assisting us in any way. We are sent from pillar to post when we go to the municipality offices,” he said.
However, the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality mayor, Khumalo Molefe refuted claims that the borehole project was abandoned and said they were attending to the crisis.
“Madibogo as a whole is a problematic area when it comes to underground water. The contractor will have returned to the site by Wednesday to look at various other areas, and to check the possibility of us getting sufficient water to give to our people. So the project is not abandoned.
“In the meantime, we have four water tanks in the area that the Ratlou Local Municipality has been assisting us to fill up with water because we have limited trucks. We have also in the meantime sent a water tank to come and augment that capacity, in order to alleviate the situation for our people,” Molefe said.
The National Department of Health spokesperson, Foster Mohale cautions against drinking untreated water from rivers and dams as it leads to exposure to waterborne diseases such as cholera.
“Avoid drinking water from sources like rivers, dams, and other wells without treating it, because you might find that it has waterborne diseases like cholera. Hence we always advise that before you can drink any water from sources like dams where the safety of the water was not confirmed by the department, ensure you treat water by boiling.
“Or use one or two spoons of bleach in the water in order to kill all the germs that might be in it,” said Mohale.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in the North West said that the rights of the residents were indeed violated and that it would conduct its own investigations.
