<\/p>\n
A water scheme that began 20 years ago to supply thousands of households near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape is still unfinished. Residents of villages around Ngqeleni say that over the decades they have seen at least four contractors come and go.<\/p>\n
The Buthongweni Water Supply Scheme was meant to serve about a dozen villages \u2013 including Buthongweni, Mabhetshe, Zingonyameni, Mhlakotshane, Qokama, Sidanda, KwaZulu, Mntsholobeni, Mayalweni, Lushini and Sikhova.<\/p>\n
According to resident Zamekile Dyubhele, the first contractor left in late 2007 after installing several pipes and building a tank. Water was to come from the Ngqeleni dam.<\/p>\n
A second contractor, appointed in 2009, installed taps and raised the villagers\u2019 hopes, said Dyubhele. But that contractor also left.<\/p>\n
In 2016, another contractor arrived.<\/p>\n
Read: R125m and three contractors later, still no water for Eastern Cape villages<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were hoping that they would finally finish the project \u2026 Unfortunately, they also left,\u201d said Dyubhele.<\/p>\n
He said the contractor did build another big tank, but spent most of its time fixing pipes laid by previous contractors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are guards who are looking after the machines at the Ngqeleni dam. I\u2019m sure they are being paid. What we see is that the municipality keeps on pumping money while the project keeps on failing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Dyubhele said a fourth contractor started work in 2024, but made little progress.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEven this new contractor, it looks like it is repeating what the previous contractors did, fixing what was already done,\u201d said Dyubhele.<\/p>\n
Villagers of Qokama collect water from this stream. Image: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik<\/p>\n
The OR Tambo District Municipality did not say how much has been spent on the scheme since 2006.<\/p>\n
According to OR Tambo District Municipality spokesperson Ncebakazi Kolwane, the Buthongweni Water Supply Scheme was hindered by contractual issues and could not be fully commissioned because there was no electricity supply from Eskom to energise the raw water abstraction works and the water treatment plant.<\/p>\n
She said this left the infrastructure idle for a prolonged period, and it was vandalised. The municipality started a refurbishment project in 2009. Generators were installed to power the extraction and treatment of the water.<\/p>\n
She said the refurbishment was completed, but then there were further delays when residents demanded that they be employed as plant operators and security personnel.<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cThe municipality accommodated some of these requests, allowing the scheme to be partially \u2026 brought into operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, further problems arose when the reticulation network was damaged during road construction.<\/p>\n
She said the municipality repaired the damaged pipes in 2016, which restored the functionality of the scheme and enabled water supply.<\/p>\n
Recurring breakdowns<\/p>\n
In 2024, the generator failed. The municipality carried out several repairs, but there were recurring breakdowns. A new generator was delivered in November 2025. She said the scheme has been operational since then. Water is supplied through a rationing schedule to keep the system stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the scheme is operational and supplying communities through a rationing schedule, some parts of the reticulation network continue to experience leakages and plumbing-related faults, which can delay supply to certain villages,\u201d said Kolwane.<\/p>\n
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Chief Mfanelo Mnatule, who lives in KwaZulu village, told GroundUp that villages in his area have taps, but they have never produced a single drop of water. He said people rely on untreated water. He challenged the municipality to visit the villages.<\/p>\n
Read:
Contractor speaks out on Makhanda pump supply debacle
R1bn Limpopo water scheme stalled, leaving villagers in the lurch<\/p>\n
\u201cSince this project started in 2006, we have never received water from it. The only thing that we see is the changing of contractors, and we don\u2019t even know what is happening. As residents, we are kept in the dark,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven now there\u2019s a contractor working and fixing the water infrastructure, but we are still waiting. Currently, we are sharing water with animals, while some people have bought water tanks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not getting any proper explanation from our municipalities about the project,\u201d said Mnatule.<\/p>\n
GroundUp visited several villages, including Qokama, Mabhetshe and Sizindeni. Their taps were dry. Several residents told us that the taps had never had water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would not be accurate to characterise the successive interventions as failed projects. Rather, the municipality has undertaken various phases of construction, refurbishment and restoration in response to changing technical and operational challenges,\u201d said Kolwane.<\/p>\n
Kolwane said the municipality attended to faults as they were reported, and \u201cmaintenance teams continue to undertake repairs to improve the reliability of the system\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 GroundUp. This article was first published here.<\/p>\n
#Drained #funds #dry #taps #20year #water #project #failure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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