A community in the Ramotshere Moiloa Municipality is grappling with a severe water shortage after critical infrastructure was targeted in a brazen act of vandalism, leaving residents without a reliable water supply.
The crisis stems from an incident at a reservoir in Dinokana Village, Lehurutshe, where armed men allegedly overpowered two security officers on Saturday. The assailants then stripped the electrical cables from the reservoir’s pump house.
The vandalism has had an immediate and crippling effect, cutting off the electricity needed to power the pumps that move water into the community’s pipelines. A municipal spokesperson confirmed the system’s paralysis, stating, “Currently, there’s no electricity that can assist the system to pump the water into the pipelines.”
The official noted that the only water currently available is what remains inside the pipes, but the capacity and duration of this residual supply are unknown. “We don’t know the capacity [of] how is it going to assist the community going forward,” the spokesperson said.
The criminal act is being felt acutely by residents, with some in the community pointing to high unemployment as a driver behind such cable theft crimes.
The incident has also taken a political dimension. A local councilor suggested the vandalism could be an attempt to destabilize the area ahead of the 2026 local government elections. “I’m not ruling out any possibility. They might be politically motivated as well,” the councilor said, expressing personal concern about being targeted by armed groups.
Echoing the severity of the situation, the District Municipality Mayor for Ngaka Modiri Molema described the challenge as being driven by a dangerous criminal syndicate. The mayor urged residents to remain calm as restoration efforts begin.
“We will do everything in our power as the district of Ngaka Modiri Molema to restore normalcy,” the mayor said. “However, we must indicate it is difficult to provide sustainable water under the current circumstances where there is a roaming syndicate that is heavily armed that torments and harasses our entire water provision infrastructure and system.”
Police confirm that investigations into the matter are ongoing as the community waits for a resolution to the water crisis.
