No water for nine weeks: Freedom Front Plus calls for national intervention in Mafube

Image: Wallpaper Cave

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) has urgently appealed to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Velenkosini Hlabisa, to immediately intervene in the Mafube Local Municipality, where residents have been waiting nearly nine weeks for a water pump so sustainable water supply can be restored to the area.

The Free State Department of COGTA had indicated that a new water pump would be available within "a few days" in September already, as the Municipality lacks the necessary funds. But nine weeks on, nothing has happened. 

The MEC, Saki Mokoena, personally guaranteed that the Department would procure the pump, but no progress has been made to date.

In the meantime, the residents of Frankfort, Villiers, Cornelia and Tweeling are in dire straits, even though the Municipality has essentially been under provincial administration since 2017.

Frankfort has water supply for only about five hours per day, Cornelia frequently does not have water for days on end and Villiers has no chemicals for water purification. In addition, Frankfort, Cornelia and Tweeling's stock of water purification chemicals is expected to last only one more week. 

Meanwhile, service delivery has ground to a halt. Service vehicles are inoperative due to a shortage of diesel, councillors' salaries have still not been paid and will likely not be paid in October or November either. Moreover, the Municipality's collection rate has dropped to 14% – the lowest yet. 

Clearly, Free State COGTA’s provincial interventions have failed. Today, Mafube is far worse off than before the so-called "rescue action". It is unacceptable that for more than nine weeks, nothing has been done to fulfil the promises to provide a single pump – all while residents do not have access to water.

The Freedom Front Plus has asked the Minister to facilitate the process of procuring the pump, and to guarantee transparency and accountability from both the provincial and municipal administrations.

Access to clean water is a constitutional right, and the administration’s ongoing failure to repair and provide basic infrastructure is unacceptable.