General News

The Rustenburg Local Municipality leadership collective comprising the Executive Mayor – Councillor Mpho Khunou, Council Speaker – Councillor Shiela Mabale-Huma, Single Whip – Councillor Levy Mokwele and the City’s Accounting Officer Mr. Victor Makona met with the province’s MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs Hon. Mmoloki Cwaile over the City’s on-going water supply challenges. The meeting follows marathon meetings led by the Executive Mayor, which included a multi-stakeholder meeting held two weeks ago, in which water boards providing bulk-water supply to Rustenburg were present.

The Municipality’s leadership over a period of year has been working around the clock, in an attempt to bring about an end to the inconvenience which many of the City’s residents have to had to endure particularly, in Greater Boitekong, Tlhabane, Tlhabane West and Geelhout among some of the areas that have been hardest hit by consistent water supply interruptions due to low water levels as well as scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, which has had adverse effects on both domestic and commercial users in Rustenburg.

The purpose of the meeting to was to present a plan which among others will focus on the following:

• Increased universal access of clean drinking water, during the Covid-19 pandemic
• Provision of support to municipalities in the coordination of water related operations and funding
• Assist Municipalities to address water demand management operation, by ensuring that demand of supply is achieved
• To develop a medium to long term funding model and mobilization of strategic resources to respond to the water challenges and supply thereof by communities
• Through capacity building, increase water service provision in municipalities, given the constitutional imperative which the service carries in terms of the law and responsibility of government towards citizens for basic service provision

Executive Mayor Khunou, in his opening remarks said, it was well-thought for the provincial government through the office of the MEC to visit Rustenburg and get an insight into the challenges plaguing the

City “MEC Cwaile, we are grateful that you saw it fit to come to Rustenburg to get a first account of our challenges. We have agreements with three water boards and from which we buy our bulk water, however we are not getting joy from what we are paying for, as seemingly there is not value for money” Mayor Khunou said. Rustenburg residents who received their bulk water service from the Boospoort water treatment plant, have also been at the receiving end of inconsistent water supply due to the daily power outages at the plant, which have affected the water reticulation to residents.

The Municipality presented further plans, where in some areas work is near completion. This will increase supply capacity to various areas of Rustenburg while reducing water losses which have negative financial implications on the City’s ability to collect revenue from water sales. A project has been completed which when commissioned will benefit residents of both Zinniaville and East End. Further to that, through grant funding the City will augment water supply in Lekgalong and Freedom Park.

The RLM leadership expressed concern about the water supply issue in Makolokwe, which is around the on-going tussle between tribal authorities who are located between Rustenburg and Madibeng Municipalities. One of the key valves on the bulk water line is located in another village in Madibeng, unfortunately when a conflict arises between the two tribal authorities, communities in Makolokwe are deprived of water supply, as the valve which is in Madibeng will be closed off to cut supply. This further aggravates the situation as the RLM implemented a borehole project which did not yield positive results due to tables were not favorable leaving residents with more frustration. However additional measures have been put in places where once capacity of the Magalies bulk-line has been augmented, residents will have access to water.

The department has pledged its support towards the municipality, which includes the following:

• To consolidate a report which will be shared with both the provincial government and national government for interfacing and envisaged top-down intervention in dealing with the water challenges
• Deploy technical support team to the municipality, to strengthen capacity over monitoring and evaluation objectives, for improved water demand management in the short-to-medium term. This will be critical, when long terms plans are developed and unfold to ensure equitable water distribution between the RLM, mines and other bulk consumers
• To form part of the recently task team comprising of the Municipality, officials from Rand and Magalies Water as well as the mines, which will investigate water supply to all bulk customers including the RLM in understanding the holistic technical/infrastructural challenges
• To detail a medium and long term plan, with both resource allocation and funding to meet the set deliverables in increasing general access to clean drinking water which is not limited to discussion with the treasury department, to ensure financial burden reduction on the RLM
• To mobilize funding in assisting the municipality to proceed with added capacity to its water supply operations to residents, particularly where currently supply is inconsistent. Further to that the completion of the Pilanesburg Water Scheme, which when completed will resolve the current the water supply deficit to Rustenburg. This is important, as all sectors of the economy and neighboring areas to the RLM jurisdiction will benefit, although financing the project requires a province-to-national intervention.
• The department remains concerned about the on-going tussled between the two tribal councils, and will be expediting a process wherein the valve along the bulk water line be moved to ensure illegal water cuts will no longer be experienced, as a result of issues not related to service and in particular water provision.

End.

On the 19^th March 2021 a very important meeting on Rustenburg’s bulk water supply crisis took place at Bospoort water treatment plant. In attendance were the following stakeholders:

Rustenburg Local Municipality which was represented by the Executive Mayor Clr Mpho Khunou, MMC Mhlungu, Clr Snyders, Clr Du Plessis, Municipal Manager, Director DTIS, Acting Unit Manager- Water Supply and other officials.

Magalies Water represented by the Board Chairperson Ms Pinky Motoko the Chief Executive, General Manager and other officials.

Rand Water was represented by Senior Customer Executives. The Rustenburg Water Services Trust was represented by the Board Chairperson Mr Vinesh Dilsook and the CEO. Also in attendance was MP Hon Cheryl Phillips.

The purpose of the meeting was to focus on the current bulk water challenges in Rustenburg which have severely affected supply to large sections of the municipality. The meeting also dealt with water quality concerns by the municipality on behalf of residents.

The following is a brief overview of reports presented by the various water boards on the current bulk water supply challenges.

1.1 Rand Water

This entity supplies water to Rustenburg through two systems. The first is through the Vaal river water network which supplies via the Barnardsvlei reservoir and two pipelines commonly known as P1 and P2. About 140 mega litres are pumped to Rustenburg through this system although only about 40 mega litres reaches the city for domestic/ household consumption. ‘’Approximately 100 mega litres of this water is actually utilised by the mines in terms of direct agreements with Rand Water’’.

In terms of an existing agreement with Magalies Water, Rand Water buys on average 70 mega litres of water from the entity to supply to Rustenburg. This water finds its way to Rustenburg through the Boosport reservoir. The water from this reservoir feeds into the following reservoirs; townlands and industry. According to Magalies Water which produces the water supplied to Rand Water and ultimately to Rustenburg a number of mines including Impala are fed from the Boosport reservoir. In terms of the 70 mega litres mentioned above about 6 mega litres is supplied to the Royal Bafokeng areas. The remainder which is approximately 64 mega litres is shared between the mines and the household consumers of Rustenburg. What was not disclosed in the meeting was the exact breakdown of how the 64 mega litres is shared between the mines and the municipality for domestic consumption.

A major area of contention in the meeting was on the fact that Bospoort reservoir always records very low levels irrespective of restrictions imposed to raise it. This appears to be the main reason why residents in this supply line are  frequently without water  The areas which are regularly affected include the greater  Boitekong ,Sunrise Park, Rustenburg North , Ramochana Seraleng, Sondela, Zinniaville , Karlienpark, Tlhabane , Tlhabane West and Geelhout Park. A thorough investigation is to be urgently undertaken to establish why the Bospoort reservoir is never full to capacity irrespective of the length of time the restrictions are imposed

1.2 Magalies  Water

In essence their report indicated that the existing agreement with Magalies Water provides for the supply of 55 mega litres but due to the demand in Rustenburg they supply on average the 70 mega litres referred to above. In addition they supply approximately 9 mega litres to areas such as Lethabong, Monakato, Bethanie, and Makolokwe. These residents are also at the brunt of supply interruptions as demand far exceeds supply. Magalies further reported that they have installed a new pump at their Vaalkop plant to improve capacity although they expressed serious concern about the Vaalkop Plant being operated beyond its design capacity which in itself poses a huge risk.

In order to meet the forever growing water demand in Rustenburg, Magalies had long ago initiated the Pilanesburg water scheme which is to supply an additional 70 mega litres.  This scheme has been implemented up to Mafenya in Rustenburg and should have been completed as far back as 2016. Magalies Water revealed that they need close to 1 billion rand to complete this project and they anticipate that once funding is secured it could take up to two years to complete the project. Confirmation of the funding is still awaited from the Department of Water and Sanitation.  This matter will be once more elevated to National government.

According to Magalies the water supplied to Rustenburg is compliant with the applicable quality standards. This matter was vehemently disputed by the Councillors of the municipality who contended that large parts of Rustenburg experience serious issues of water quality. The municipality has appointed experts to regularly monitor the water quality supplied.

1.3 Rustenburg Water Services Trust

The entity runs the Bospoort Water treatment plant which currently has capacity to produce 12 mega litres. This water is supplied to Rustenburg through the Industry reservoirs. In terms of a study conducted by the monitoring and evaluation unit of the municipality the Boosport plant regularly reports very frequent power supply interruptions.  For example on the 16^th March 2021 the plant record more than 50 electricity supply interruptions.  The power interruptions are so frequent that water supply to Rustenburg is severely affected most of the time. It is for this reason that at the end of 2019 the municipality commissioned an old Rand water line from the Rustenburg Civic centre to boost supply to Industry reservoir. This however does not result in addition water overall to Rustenburg but rather a form of supply and demand management to various parts of the city.  The Rustenburg Water services trust has made several attempts to secure a dedicated line to the Bospoort plant from Eskom without much success. This line will eliminate the frequent power supply interruptions to the plant which have drastically affected water delivery to residents.  This matter will be elevated once more to the Provincial management of Eskom. The Trust is also currently busy to upgrade the Bospoort plant in order to double supply from 12 to 24 mega litres. This project will take about two years to complete.

1.4 Overall picture of Bulk Water Supply

Rand Water supplies 140 mega litres from the Barnardvlei reservoir about 100 mega litres is supplied to the mines. Rand Water supplies water to Rustenburg bought from Magalies Water, although Magalies Water indicates that it supplies 70 mega litres through this arrangement not all this water is ultimately delivered to households in Rustenburg, we estimate about only about half of the 64 mega litres (Subtracting Bafokeng Supply) reaches domestic consumers.

Magalies Water supplies an additional 9 mega litres as explained above.

Rustenburg Water Services Trust is meant to supply 12 mega litres but due to frequent electricity interruptions we estimate that only we only receive at best 6 mega litres per day.

Total domestic demand for Rustenburg is estimated at about 135 mega litres but we only receive about 85 mega litres resulting in daily shortfall of about 50 mega litres.

1.5 Plan of action

The meeting agreed on the following:

1. The immediate establishment of a task team led by the Municipal Manager including all the water boards, mines and other experts to find ways to alleviate the current crisis. The task team will focus on the following:

• Investigation of bulk supply into Rustenburg to establish all the off take points on both the Vaalkop and Barnardsvlei system. Special attention in this regard must be given to the Bospoort reservoir which never records acceptable levels irrespective of the amount of restrictions imposed.
• An assessment of the actual status of water supply and demand for both domestic and industrial use.
• This assessment is to enable more acceptable demand and supply management which is currently skewed to the detriment of domestic consumers. There has to be more transparency from all water boards in terms of both industrial and domestic consumption.
• The speedy of resolution of frequent power supply interruptions at Bospoort Water Treatment plant.
• The speedy resolution of water supply problems in the area of Makolokwe.
• Putting pressure on the National Department of Water and Sanitation to finalise the Pilanesburg Water Scheme in order to secure an additional supply of 70 mega litres.

The task team is expected to give a preliminary report on the 1^st April 2021.

Other interventions being done by the municipality on water supply challenges include the following:

• The replacement of pumps at Geelhout Park and Tlhabane West reservoirs to ensure that the outflow from these installations is commensurate with demand. This also includes the replacement of pipeline in Tlhabane This is a project worth about R 17 million which has commenced and is expected to be completed in about two months.

It is expected that the project will alleviate supply problems especially to high lying areas of Tlhabane West.

• The completion of internal reticulation project in Tlhabane especially in Ward 11. This project affects about 950 residents and a team has been appointed to expedite it. It will be completed in two months. A contingency plan will be implemented to provide water to residents.
• The commissioning of revamped water reticulation system in Rustenburg CBD, Zinniaville and East End.
• Augmentation of bulk water supply to both Lekgalong and Freedom Park.
• As part of water conservation and demand management programme, installation of air valves and pressure reducing valves to minimise pipe bursts.
• The acceleration of Kortbegrip water augmentation project to address water shortage at Modikwe, Barseba, Makolokwe and Bethanie.

1.6 Conclusion

We will give regular updates on all of this interventions.

REPORT COMPILED BY THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR CLLR MPHO KHUNOU

The Rustenburg Local Municipality has noted with concern the eruption of violent protests in Tlhabane, over water supply challenges. Currently work is underway in Tlhabane Ward 11 to address the inconsistent water supply to residents. Over the last few weeks, the leadership collective of the RLM has been meeting on regular basis to find a lasting solution to this challenge.

The weekly engagements comprising of internal stakeholders and experts roped in by the Municipality are intended on resolving this inconvenience which the RLM regrets. To date, about 6 million rand has been set aside, to ensure that the identified households in Tlhabane which have been certified to be under 1000 get reconnected to the bulk water pipe-line. To this extent, an appointed contractor has started with the project, which will see all these households get access to water, as has been the case previously.

Further to that, the Municipality had also commenced with work in Tlhabane West and Geelhout in respect of the upgrading of the bulk water pipe-line to ensure that the water supply challenges that residents in these areas have experienced are permanently resolved. The Municipality has called an extra-ordinary multi-stakeholder meeting which includes the various water boards from which the City purchases bulk water to deal with the reduced water supply to Rustenburg across the various water schemes. The RLM remains optimistic that this engagement with all the key stakeholders, will bring about the much-needed solution and bring to an end, the anguish of residents.

One of our water suppliers – Rand Water has formally notified the Municipality of its reduction of water supply through one of their networks and this has had an adverse effect on the City to provide the required daily supply to communities which has inadvertently inconvenienced our residents further. Our water supply challenges have been further compounded by a series of power supply interruptions at Rustenburg Water Services Trust-operated plant, which has delayed the pumping of water and subsequent channeling to our network for dispensing to residents.

The Municipality however takes exception to the violent protests which have broken out, where there have been threats of destruction to public property. The Executive Mayor of Rustenburg Councillor Mpho Khunou said, residents have a right to protest, however, that should not leave the City with the burden and repairing damaged infrastructure “we are aware of the grievances by our residents in Tlhabane, while we respect their right to protest it is important to take into account that any destruction of public property key in ensuring continued service delivery is not in the best interests of the residents as this will affect them in the end” Mayor Khunou concluded.

The RLM has also noted that there are external forces, who want to hijack genuine community concerns for their motives. To this extent, the Municipality is aware of the participation of a Member of the Mayoral Committee from the Bojanala District Municipality in the violent protests, which have taken place for the better part of yesterday. The City calls for calm while the leadership of the Municipality is working around the clock to ensure that the issue is resolved with the necessary speed.

End.

The leadership collective of the RLM, has changed tact to focus on providing financial and resource support to the Technical and Infrastructure Directorate (DTIS) which is the nerve of service delivery of within the City’s administration. The Directorate has been prioritised to ensure that necessary support is given to the units (water, sanitation and electricity) to address the existing backlog of service delivery complaints, which were due to both financial and resource limitations. The Sanitation team will be focusing on sanitation related problems in Lethabong, for the remainder of this month as well as carrying out maintenance on the sanitation infrastructure.

The RLM’s Community Development Directorate, has upped its ante in respect of clearing of all illegal dumping areas in the various residential areas. This month focus will be directed to numerous areas including – Zinniaville, Geelhout Park, Yizo-Yizo, Boitekong ext 13 and ext 23, Seraleng, Freedom Park, Bokamoso, Karlienpark, Marikana and Tlhabane. Further to that the Directorate will be keeping with one of the City’s strategic priority of ensuring that the environment is kept clean and safe for all, by cleaning public areas and sports facilities such as Tlhabane Stadium, Olympia Park, Zinniaville Sports Ground, and Boitekong Stadium among other areas which will receive attention.

The Municipality is aware of the sensitivities around graveyards as well as the significance such places carry for the residents of Rustenburg, who are from varied religious backgrounds.

To that effect, the RLM will also be attending to the cleaning of cemeteries such as Tlhabane, Pioneer, Donkerhoek and Reitvlei.

The City Council has approved a sizeable amount of an additional allocation to deal with the road network rehabilitation and maintenance. Rustenburg continues to experience high traffic volumes for both commercial and non-commercial usage. As such, the City’s road network requires constant maintenance to meet the demand of freight in particular which plays a crucial role in the economic growth of the City, through the movement of goods and creating access to a myriad of strategic services.

The Roads and Transport Directorate will be taking its pot-hole patching and maintenance by focusing in Rustenburg CBD, Tlhabane, Rustenburg East, Zinniaville, Phatsima, Mafenya, Chaneng, Robega, Water Fall East for this month.  The road rehabilitation/maintenance project will focus on the following:

• Clearing of pavements and sidewalks
• Mowing and maintenance of plants on pavement surface and in storm water features
• Unblocking of Storm Water Structures
• Clearing of ditches and culverts
• Repair of traffic signs and road markings
• Shoulder grading
• Pothole patching and crack sealing
• Repair of sealants and expansion joints of Concrete Pavement
• Repair of cut and fill slopes.

Speaking on the side-lines of the weekly Special Mayoral Committee meetings this morning, Executive Mayor Mpho Khunou said, it was important that the concerns of residents are at all material times taken into account “we have recently passed conservative adjustment budget which by all intents and purposes seeks to address core service delivery challenges. We are aware of the water situation, the condition of our City’s roads and we will be doubling our efforts to ensure that residents see an improvement. It will take time for the City to permanently address these and our residents should be seeing a change soon as out plans start to take shape. We however we remain optimistic that the additional allocation to address water challenges will bear fruits in the middle of the next financial year, as this is an on-going concern to us which required attention and intervention” Mayor Khunou said.

Mayor Khunou said, residents need to appreciate that the RLM understands their frustrations well, and it is for that reason that the Municipality has been interacting with stakeholders in finding a lasting solution. To date the RLM has informed the North West Premier, MEC for local government in addition to initiating the discussions with the ministry for water and sanitation about the difficult position the City finds itself in. There are on-going engagements to find a collective solution, to the current water challenge.

Work is currently underway to address increasing the Rustenburg’s water network capacity to deal with intermittent water cuts, low pressured water to high-lying residents as well as to ensure that reservoirs will have the minimum spare capacity to enable flow and reduce scheduled water interruptions largely to high water demand which currently far exceeds the supply. The Executive Mayor has recently announced that an envisaged upgrade of the Bospoort Water Treatment Works from 12 to 24 mega litres which will ensure that residents in Greater Boitekong, Zinniaville, Tlhabane and Tlhabane West among other areas experience an improved access to water with reduced water interruptions.

Regular updates will be communicated in the coming months, to detail the work to be done in other areas, in line with the service delivery plan and also report back on the on completed service delivery backlogs.

End.

The Rustenburg Local Municipality’s Public Safety Directorate, kick-started its weekend with the continuation of the Safe and Clean City campaign, which is in-line with one of Rustenburg’s key priorities – Maintain clean, green, safe and healthy municipal environment for all residents. Other strategic stakeholders to the campaign included the Hawkers Forum and the taxi association both operating from the City’s transport hub. Other Directorates included the Local Economic Development which is key to facilitating small-to-large scale economic activities in the City including the informal business sector, Community Development central to the campaign, in ensuring that Rustenburg is kept clean for all and the Roads and Transport, which has a solid working relation with the taxi industry as the lead in road infrastructure maintenance.

The campaign focused on the following key areas:

• Environmental Awareness – by interacting with members of the public and educating them about the best methodologies for waste management and environmental conservation. This is critical as the City, has in the recent weeks, been inundated with calls of blocked storm-water channels as well as sewer lines, where foreign objects were found to be causing the recorded incidents of blockages due to the discarding of such objects in the sewer and storm-water networks.
• De-bushing of public spaces and pedestrian walk-ways – the City has identified some of the areas as crime-hotspots where petty crimes take places, as rogue elements take advantage of reduced visibility due to overgrown grasslands. It is in these areas, where numerous people were caught in the act of illegal dumping and subsequently fined in line with the City’s by-laws.
• Removal of illegal dumpsites – the operation, also focused on the complete eradication of emerging illegal dumping sites, which continue to pose serious health risks to nearby residents, due to the nature of materials which are dumped, some of which need to be disposed in an environmentally sensitive manner far away from residential areas.
• Patching of potholes – The City has in its recently approved adjustment budget set aside a sizeable amount of the expenditure to deal with the City’s road network maintenance to ensure user-friendliness for the benefit of both commercial and noncommercial motorists.

The City’s leadership remains concerned about the number of people who have expressed desire to trade in Rustenburg’s CBD but have disregarded the applicable by-laws governing informal trading. Member of the Mayoral Committee on Public Safety Councillor Victoria Makhaula, said residents and in particular informal trader need to understand that by-laws are approved by Council as a measure of ensuring law and order “I want to urge our residents to be aware that Council continues to support the informal traders, however it is not correct for people to come into Rustenburg and put up stalls everywhere, without the necessary consent. It is further unfair to those who have acquired their permits legally and who continue to comply. As such, our appeal is that our residents visit our offices, to get the necessary paperwork to be able to trade freely” said Makhaula.

Previously the RLM has received complaints from pedestrians and businesses alike about informal traders who put on busy side-walks and further congesting pedestrian traffic and making it difficult for shoppers to move in-between shops with ease particularly at month-end. The Public Safety officers, have issued section 56 notices, to the informal traders who were found in Rustenburg East, between Friday and Saturday with imminent fines should they be found to be in contravention of the applicable by-laws in future.

Residents are encouraged to at all material times, comply with the alert level regulations, which require compliance to gathering and enforcement of a curfew which is intended to control movement of persons between midnight and 04:00 am. Any person found to be in contravention of the regulations, may be liable to pay a fine and or face imprisonment.

End.

On-going engagements between the City’s leadership collective and residents from various wards over service delivery concerns continued this week. In the past couple of weeks, the Executive Mayor – Councillor Mpho Khunou has been conducting inspections in the central business district and neighbouring areas to ascertain the effectiveness of service delivery as well as to appreciate the challenges faced by communities daily. The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent regulations which have been enforced have made it difficult for the City to host service delivery meetings, where communities can engage the RLM. This has not deterred the City first resident from engaging residents continuously.

The service delivery inspections gives the Municipal leadership a microscopic view on all matters relating to service delivery while affording the City’s administration a perspective of the City’s residents on how service delivery standards of the Municipality are perceived. This week, the Zinniaville Ratepayers Association met with the City’s top leadership to raise concerns about their service delivery challenges. The recently adopted adjustment budget by the City Council seeks to put into sharp focus an accelerated and effective approach towards service delivery, in particular addressing long-outstanding complaints, which could not be previously resolved due to both financial and resource constraints.

The Executive Mayor has made it his commitment to engage with the residents of the City to get a first-hand experience of their service delivery challenges and appreciate the inconvenience thereof. In his opening remarks kick-starting the engagement session, Mayor Khunou said Zinniaville’s challenges were economically unique, given their geographical location and proximity to industries “Rustenburg continues to grow rapidly, even though the mining sector has suffered greatly in terms of production in recent years. It is no surprise that the City’s infrastructure is beginning to feel the pressure, be it on water supply, road and stormwater infrastructure as well as electricity supply. Your region is at the foot of the economic value chain, where a lot of activities takes place, it regrettably comes as no surprise that you bear the brunt of the City’s economic growth” Mayor Khunou remarked.

The Municipality has on an on-going basis been communicating largely using, local, regional and national media outlets to proactively talk about some of the most pertinent issues in particular the water and electricity supply challenges. Most recently, the RLM participated in a news program that focused on service delivery challenges in Zinniaville. The RLM over the course of the previous year has kept residents abreast about the water demand and supply ratio which to date has not been resolved, as demand exceeds the current supply to the City.

Residents in the area, have had to experience frequent water cuts, which in certain instances result in the restoration of poor water quality. Additionally, residents representing the association said, businesses in their area continued to suffer financial losses as a result of the water supply interruption, which is yet to receive a permanent solution. Residents also decried the current state of roads in the areas, which are used mainly by the freight industry and said the RLM did not act with the necessary speed to ensure the maintenance thereof.

Municipal Manager Victor Makona said, the City’s administration has been aware of the water supply challenges “over the cause of the last 12 months, we have experienced more frequent water cuts, either to low water supply or cuts effected as a result of poor water quality. We have recently appointed a service provider which will solely focus on water quality-related issues, the inconvenience cannot be imagined, where people had not had access to water, for numerous reasons and when supply is restored the water is not suitable for human consumption” he concluded.

The RLM’s Technical and Infrastructure Directorate has already started to implement its service delivery plan for water, by ensuring monitoring of the bulk line to Zinniaville, to ensure that pipe-bursts are responded to and resolved within the shortest turn-around time. Additionally, there is a team that monitors the water pressure, which causes outages when the flow is not sufficiently pressurized. While long-term plans include a massive water-pipe replacement project of ageing infrastructure in ensuring that burst-pipes incidents are significantly reduced.

The City continues to find its water demand requirements still far surpassing the current supply to many areas around Rustenburg, the City is on course to upgrade the Boospoort Water Treatment Works plant, to significantly increase water supply, by doubling the capacity from 12 to 24 megalitres and this upgrade is anticipated to be concluded within the next two years, given the scope of work and technical nature of upgrades. The upgrades will assist areas that currently continue to experience low pressured water supply such as Greater Boitekong, Tlhabane, Karlienpark, and Zinniaville.

The Municipality having being affected by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, passed it adjustment taking into account, the reduced collection rates which are critical in continued service delivery, in the result Council made an additional allocation of over 36 million rands which will strictly focus on maintenance of the City’s infrastructure, with 10 million rands being directed to the road network of the City with priority on economic routes. A road rehabilitation/maintenance has already commenced on Molen Street and in preparation for the operation of the City’s RRT project, there will be the construction of walkways and feederroutes of Ya Rona buses in KarlienPark and Zinniaville.

Further to that, in areas that have been experiencing power supply interruptions more frequently, public lighting – including street lights will also be allocated around 10 million rands to address the securitization of electricity while also dealing with the safety and security of residents, particularly at night time. The City has committed to implementing, a plan flowing from the weekly Special Mayoral Committee Meetings on Service delivery which will include, grass cutting, and de-bushing in the areas, as some work has already been completed at the various community facilities following the recently experienced torrential rains. The RLM is on course, to finalize the issue around the availability of land to accommodate more graves that are used by the Zinniaville community for burial, pending Council approval after internal administrative processes have been complied with.

The City will in due course, provide updates on the work carried out across all the 45 wards, with the additional allocation of the adjustment budget, particularly where there has been an outcry by residents on areas that did not receive attention, in respect of specific services.

End.

Responding to the call, for a more intensified approach towards service delivery in Rustenburg, the City’s first resident hit the streets to make an assessment of the service delivery standards and to have a first-hand account of the challenges experienced daily by residents. The Executive Mayor, accompanied by the Municipal Manager and the Council’s Single Whip in tow, were in Tlhabane to conduct a walk-about and ascertain the impact of service delivery.

Part of the visit to Tlhabane included an ally in Lebone street which has been identified as a crime spot where unsuspecting residents and pedestrians fall victims to criminal elements who are taking advantage of the over grown grass as well as the boundary walls which make it difficult for house owners to monitor activity of passers-by. The Executive Mayor, said the recent rains have not made it easy for the Community Development Directorate to deal with the general cleaning of the City “while we appreciate the inclement weather of the last few weeks has put us on the back foot, the Municipality will ensure that areas which may attract criminal elements are dealt with” said Mayor Khunou.

Cllr Levy Mokwele, said the community had implored on him to bring about a more permanent solution, which will ensure that while the community makes use of the ally, it becomes difficult for criminal elements to operate there. The second part of the inspection focused on the water leaks pipe bursts which have been frequent in the CBD. During this particular inspection, the Member of the Mayoral Committee on Technical and Infrastructure Services MMC Michael

Mhlungu was present. Present also was the manager for water services as well as the new appointed consulting engineers who have been tasked with the responsibility of addressing water leaks, upgrading of pump stations within the water infrastructure network as well as developing a more efficient water demand management plan, which will see Rustenburg reduce water losses.

Reacting to the process, which will address the long standing challenges the Municipal Manager said, the municipality always took the grievances of the community to heart “we are pleased that we are not performing an inspection to see the extent to which the challenges we have affect residents, but we have the relevant expertise with us to appreciate the enormity of the task ahead. In the next couple of months, the consulting engineers and the appointed engineering contractor will be focusing on the water related challenges we have. As a City we felt that water should not be generalized with other service delivery problems, as it has a constitutional bearing. We are hopeful that at the end of the process, which primarily will focus on increasing capacity for water demand management as well as improving efficiencies, our communities will see the difference” remarked the Municipal Manager.

Councillor Aubrey Rootman said, the businesses which are situated along the busy Nelson Mandela Drive and adjacent streets had suffered greatly, due to the water cuts which had to be effected, to allow the municipal water teams to carry out repairs. In recent months, the stretch of bulk line between Steen and Boom streets had burst on numerous occasions due to the pressure built-up and the engineers will commence work soon, which will include a replacement of the AC pipe which is no longer in a good condition, given the number of reported pipe bursts.

End.

Residents are hereby informed that due to internal operational challenges at the Bospoort Water Treatment Works (BWTW) managed by the Water and Sanitation Servicers South Africa (WSSA) the supply of water to Rustenburg has been reduced to 60%.

The following areas will experience water supply interruptions:

• Geelhout

• Parts of Tlhabane West

• Zinniaville

• Rustenburg North

This will have a negative effect on the supply of water to the industrial reservoir and consequently water supply to residents will be severely constrained. Further to that, with the reduced allowance for water supply, the Municipality will not be able to ensure provision of water to residents at the desired quantity.

The Municipality is continuously engaging WSSA to improve on the current water supply quota which will ensure that when supply is increased from the 6ml/d to 12ml/d to meet the demand, this will avert the unintended consequences of water cuts. While the Municipality regrets these developments, residents are reminded that the RLM continues to fulfil its financial obligations to water service providers and issues regarding capacity, are beyond the authority of the Municipality as a customer with a contractual agreement. Residents are further advised that the above mentioned areas will be restricted from 18:00 to 06:00am to raise the level of industrial reservoirs. Further updates in this respect will be communicated in due course as the Municipality will be monitoring closely the situation.

We apologize to residents, for the inconvenience that this may cause.

End.

The ongoing water supply interruptions which have been plaguing parts of Rustenburg such as Tlhabane, Tlhabane West among other areas are a growing concern to the Executive Mayor of Rustenburg. The City, has been working around the clock for a number of months to resolve the water supply issue, which has adversely affected the residents’ way of life. The Municipality in the last two years, has spent a sizeable portion of its budget to address the water supply interruptions which had become too frequent and a great inconvenience.

Earlier today, the Executive Mayor accompanied by the Municipal Manager convened an extraordinary service delivery meeting which focused on the challenges regarding water supply part of Rustenburg, to gain better insight into the water supply challenges, even after the RLM rolled-out an AC pipe replacement project in late 2018, which had intended to deal the the ageing infrastructure as well as improve water reticulation efficiencies.

In his opening remarks, which was attended by the senior management of the Technical and Infrastructure Services Directorate as well as the Council’s Single Whip – Councillor Levy Mokwele and Ward Councillors Latelang Nkgoang and Kabelo Mokotedi were part of the meeting to make known the concerns of their different constituencies who bore the brunt of the water supply challenges to their homestead. The Municipality, has been working hard to increase the system’s capacity to deal with their high water consumption by also commissioning new water supply lines, and these efforts have not yielded the desired results.  “Over two years ago, following the many complaints which of course are legitimate the Municipality has set some funds aside to deal with the water supply issues, and it is regrettable that regardless of the interventions which have been put in place, very little has been achieved in an attempt to resolve the water issue. We need to dig deep and conduct a thorough audit of all the work which has been done, and to ensure that we have the best expertise contracted to assist the municipality as our people cannot go on further like this” Mayor Khunou said.

Councillors highlighted that the interruptions have reached alarming levels and residents are now more interested in a long-lasting solution, over the communication issued by the Municipality on the technical/operational challenges which are being experienced, causing the water supply interruptions. The deliberations in the meeting, established the following issues which continue to contribute to the ongoing water supply issues:

• Greater Boitekong, Tlhabane, Tlhabane West and Geelhout Park are supplied from the

Vaalkop system, which currently is unable to stabilize to ensure continued water supply.

• The system continues to experience interruptions which are beyond the RLM’s operational capabilities to address such as poorer water quality which forces the water supply cuts, in order to refill the system with an improved water quality

• Most of the water infrastructure on the Magalies Water supply line operated by the Municipality uses gravitational forces and accumulated water pressure within the system for sufficient water flow to the reservoirs and ultimately residential areas, to ensure access to water

• Further, RLM draws water from the same system which other commercial customers to Magalies Water have been permitted to get their water. The implication on the usage of pump stations by other customers and use of gravitational forces to draw water by the Municipality, puts the RLM at a disadvantage for the required daily supply.

• The water team has identified, that water demand in the City continues to outstrip the current supply due to the size of diameter pipes, some of which when continually pressured burst, given the age and resistance.

• Water Supply to Rustenburg due to scheduled and unscheduled repairs and maintenance on the side of the water service provider.

• Greater Boitekong, has a high number of water leakages, which contributes to the City’s water losses and decreased water pressure within the system, which results in some of the high lying areas not receiving water, due to the reduced pressure which disables the required flow for high located reservoirs and residential areas.

The Municipality, having noted all the challenges, has moved swiftly to appoint a service provider – water engineering contractor and consulting engineers, to address the sources of the identified challenges. The appointed service provider will undertake the following tasks in resolving the challenges experienced by the Municipality:

• Water Augmentation

• Pressure Management

• Bulk Metering

• Air Valve Replacement

• Pump Station upgrading maintenance

• Repair of Leaks

• Pipe Replacements

The Municipal Manager – Mr. Victor Makona said, it is concerning that to this point, the Municipality has not yet realized the results of an improved water system. “we will be keeping a close eye on the project, which aims to address to all of the challenges and we appreciate the efforts of our Councillor of ensuring that their constituencies are well informed of the situation on the ground. We will be monitoring the work of the contractor and engineers to ensure we derive value for money” Mr. Makona said.

The project intends to increase the capacity of the City’s pump stations, therefore by ensuring that sufficient water is pumped into the reservoirs to meet the end-user consumption demands therefore, addressing the implementation of more frequent water cuts to allow for the system to accumulate enough water for use by residents.

The project will additionally focus on the water leaks, which are more prevalent in Greater Boitekong, which will reduce substantially the water losses on the side of the Municipality as well as reduces water pressure in the system created by the leaks. The Executive Mayor, said it was critical that the DTIS develops a plan, which will address water related challenges in other parts of the City, as the RLM will have full control and authority over the water infrastructure and therefore, the use of engineers should not blind the Municipality from it permanent responsibility.

End.