Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma is expected to visit Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga on Friday to check on the delivery of water and sanitation, among other services.
The Presidency on Tuesday said the visit will form part of the Presidential Siyahlola Monitoring Programme and follows an appeal by Bushbuckridge Local Municipality residents for government to intervene in addressing service delivery challenges facing the community.
In particular, residents are faced with water and sanitation, housing, roads, electricity and refuse removal services challenges.
“Bushbuckridge faces a number of challenges including high poverty levels, crime, unemployment, service delivery backlogs, and skills shortages among others,” said the Presidency.
It is expected that the President will visit service delivery sites to monitor the work that has been done thus far to address the challenges and also determine what more needs to be done.
“The President will inspect progress made by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and its utility Rand Water, in alleviating water shortages in the short and long term.
“The DWS has constructed and commissioned the construction of Inyaka Dam with a storage capacity of 123 million cubic meters in 2001 at a cost of R1 billion. Subsequently construction of Inyaka purification Water Treatment Works commenced in 2001 and was done in phases with last phase being completed in November 2013,” said the Presidency.
After the completion of the plant, it was realised that out of the 120 211 households to benefit from the scheme, 78 500 are still not reticulated and connected.
“This has resulted in a signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2013 between the DWS and the Mpumalanga Provincial Government, with an agreement to utilise Rand Water to implement reticulation in order to fast track service delivery,” said the Presidency.
Bushbuckridge Local Municipality is renowned for its agricultural and tourism attractions, located in the north-eastern part of the province. It currently consists of 37 wards and covers part of the Kruger National Park.
“The Municipal area provides the economically activities viable in the Lowveld, particularly Hazyview, Hoedspruit, Pilgrims Rest and Graskop. It can therefore be called the gateway to the major tourism attractions in Mpumalanga and the south eastern part of the Limpopo Province.
“It is however characterised by a high unemployment rate and poverty,” said the Presidency.
Government has short term plans to ensure that every household is reticulated, which includes 112 jojo tanks provided by the provincial Human Settlements Department as an interim measure for communities with no access to water at all.
“A total number of 8 900 households are expected to benefit from this initiative,” said the Presidency.
Another short term plan is R129 million provided by DWS R129 million to cover internal bulk infrastructure which will reticulate 10 500 households.
Government’s medium to long term plans include bulk infrastructure. The Hoxane Water Treatment works, which is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in December 2017.
Once commissioned, the regional scheme is intended to serve 34 000 households – or 183 000 people - within Bushbuckridge South and 47 000 households – or 250 000 people - for in Nsikazi North within Mbombela Local Municipality.
According to the Presidency, the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality provides free basic electricity to 43 000 households. However the area still has about 9.7% of the households without access to electricity, with 7.8% using candles from lighting, 1.2% relies on paraffin for energy and about 0.7% uses solar panel as source of energy.
“The President will also monitor progress with regards to the delivery of other basic services by departments such as Public Works, Transport, Energy, Public Enterprises, Social Development as well as Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.”
A large number of ministers and deputy ministers, officials from the Mpumalanga Provincial Government and local government leadership are expected to accompany the President on the day. - SAnews.gov.za
