Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu is expected to visit Giyani in Limpopo to see progress made by the new contractors who turned around the controversial R4.1 billion Bulk Water Project.
According to Mchunu’s office, the minister will visit the project on April 22 and 23.
Last month, African Times reported that contractors had made significant progress in the Giyani Bulk Water Project – after a 10-year- delay attributed to poor performance and alleged tender irregularities.
Notable progress was made after the Department of Water and Sanitation replaced the previous contractors — LTE Consulting (consulting engineers) and Khathu Civils (the main contractor) — following a public outcry over the delays linked to substandard work and fraudulent procurement.
According to Giyani residents, the water supply improved since November last year after the department installed water pipes and refurbished the reservoirs. They added that while water rationing remained, the new contractors repaired leaking reservoirs and connected water pipes across 55 villages intended to benefit from the project.
Last month, Mchunu told stakeholders at the Mvula Trust 30th Anniversary in Johannesburg that he planned to visit various projects in Limpopo and Kwazulu-Natal, including the Giyani project.
eThekwini is experiencing a water shortage in areas such as Durban and Verulam, and the recent floods in the area compounded the problem after damaging infrastructure.
“We are moving ahead and are quite advanced with the other famous scheme, the Giyani scheme, we will be going next month and have made substantial progress on it,” Mchunu said.
On Saturday, April 6, Mchunu’s spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi, said the visit would occur a fortnight from now.
“We are currently on the ground. We will be in Giyani on the 22nd and 23rd of April. We will share details once finalized,” Mogotsi said.
According to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), provincial water utility Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) escalated a R90 million emergency tender to R4.1 billion in 2014 without following due process.
SIU head Adv Andy Mothibi told MPs in November last year that taxpayers received no value for money from the Giyani water project as some residents still had no water. He added that they had filed papers asking the Limpopo High Court to set aside the tender.
Lepelle Northern Water awarded the contract to LTE Consulting and Khathu Civils 10 years ago, but the companies failed to complete the job, denying residents access to water for a decade.
After visiting Giyani 2021, Senzo said LTE Consulting, Khathu Civils and their subcontractors had been paid R3 billion despite completing 48% of the work. He announced a new recovery plan and promised to hold the previous contractors accountable.
According to the Giyani water services project recovery plan, most local villages either already receive water or have had pipes connected. They are expected to get a regular water supply once the ongoing refurbishments of the Nsami Water Treatment Plant are completed.
The villages include Muyexe, Homu, Ka-Siyandhani, Mavalani, Thomo, Mninginisi, Ngove, Nkomo, Mahlathi, and the Giyani CBD. The communities have been connected to pipelines A, B, C1, D, F1, F2, and the Makosha branch.
Moreover, Mchunu warned municipal mayors against spending too much time discussing water problems rather than solutions.
After releasing the water drop results, he said a water summit held in January this year made it clear that “mayors must not take too long” discussing water problems and challenges.
“I also want to warn myself that I don’t want to, because it creates an impression that all of us are appointed to talk about problems. We don’t talk about solutions, we don’t talk about what we are doing and the progress that we are making,” Mchunu said.
