Various warnings from the FF Plus about the seriousness of the water crisis in towns like Musina and Louis Trichardt were ignored and the ANC-controlled municipalities can now literally not wash its hands of it. There is no water to do so.
On top of that, the province has confirmed its first cholera case in Musina.
It appears as if the MEC for Health in Limpopo, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, is blissfully unaware that her call on communities to frequently wash their hands and drink only clean water is actually a slap in the face of every taxpayer.
Ramathuba should rather have thrown all her weight behind efforts to resolve the ongoing water crisis, seeing as it not only affects the health of communities and residents, but also hospitals and clinics.
Steps that the FF Plus has taken so far include the following:
• In October 2022, the FF Plus already sent an urgent official letter to the Municipal Manager of the Vhembe District Municipality, Ms Tshimangadzo Ndou, and Limpopo’s MEC for Cooperative Governance, Baisikopo Makamu, requesting that an action plan must immediately be drawn up to address the water crisis.
• The FF Plus referred the matter to the party’s Member of Parliament for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Mr Michal Groenewald, to raise the matter in Parliament’s COGTA Portfolio Committee.
• On 16 February this year, the FF Plus referred the water crisis plaguing residents of the Makhado Local Municipality (Louis Trichardt) and the poor service delivery by the Vhembe District Municipality to the Premier of Limpopo, Stanley Mathabatha, for urgent intervention.
• The FF Plus lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) against the Vhembe District Municipality about the ongoing water crisis on 27 March.
• On 28 March, the FF Plus today lodged a criminal complaint against the Executive Mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality, Mr Nenguda Dowelani, and the acting Municipal Manager, Mr NC Tshikovha, with the police in Louis Trichardt.
• On 23 May, the FF Plus sent another urgent official letter to the Municipal Manager of the Vhembe District Municipality, Ms Tshimangadzo Ndou, urging her to take decisive action to resolve the sewage and water crisis in the area.
Clearly, there is only one real solution to the problem and that is to get rid of the ANC in 2024.
Limpopo deserves better than the ANC.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Marcelle Maritz on FF Plus
