Water connection for Kanye

Sharon Mathala | Monday October 13, 2014 17:33

 

Kanye is currently boursed, after its water system was found to have been contaminated early this year leading to the death of 12 people and over 60 hospitalised.

The Minister of Minister, Energy and Water Resources, Kitso Mokaila launched the Mmamashia-Kanye North South Carrier connection water supply pipeline as well as the groundbreaking ceremony.

Mokaila announced at a well-attended Kanye main Kgotla meeting that the project would take up to 30 months to complete. He said that looking at the population of the village, it needs up to 12 million cubic litres per day. “The pipeline from Mmamashia to Kanye will be about 118 km, the project will be completed by April 2017.”

Mokaila also said that the contactors were contracted at P704 million.  

“The contractors have already been engaged and consists of three companies, the tender was awarded in June as a joint venture with Basil Read (Pty) Ltd, Sharps Construction and Zhengtai group,” he said.   

One of the villagers; Motsei Lebanna told The Monitor that the water crisis differed from one area to the other. Lebanna who has been a resident of Kanye most of her life says she lives with three of her grandchildren. She says that “This is a catastrophe. You can do without electricity for a few days but you can’t live without water. The situation differs from one area of the village to the other really, in some areas the situation is so severe that they sometimes go for days without water,” she said.

She further said that “ka ha side ya rona ga re baya metsi ka bo 7am bucket e tlala fela ka bo 10am, that is how serious the situation is.” For some, they would be seen cutting across to the other side of the village, to look for water where the situation is a bit more manageable.

Lebanna stresses that in areas like ga-Kgano the residents sometimes go for weeks with little or no water. She says that “at one point when there was an outbreak of diarrhea in the village, we were told to boil water before we use it especially for younger children.”Lebanna said she hopes that the situation will improve with the introduction of the new pipe line.