Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation Sello Seitlholo has warned all and sundry about the water tankers mafia who will “come steamrolling and perpetuate shortage of water in areas that have been affected by the shutdown of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project tunnel that supplies them with water.”
Seitlholo sounded this warning on Friday during a media open day whereby journalists were invited to come and see for themselves the ongoing progress regarding the maintenance of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project tunnel and also see the steps and plans that have been taken by the Department of Water and Sanitation to make sure that municipalities which have been affected by the shutdown continue to provide their residents with water during the shutdown.
The tour to the Lesotho Highlands Water Project tunnel was joined by different mayors from Free State, officials from the department of water and sanitation.
“I do want to indicate that any crisis, particularly in relation to water, brings an opportunity for thugs and I want us all to guard against the water tankers mafia because for them this is like pay day and we must therefore continuously inform the community about what is happening regarding the lack of water due to the maintenance of the tunnel,” he said.
Deputy minister of water and sanitation David Mahlobo said the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) tunnel maintenance operations are currently progressing well and on schedule since the tunnel shutdown on 01 October 2024. The Maintenance project is scheduled to take six months and is expected to be completed on 31 March 2025.
“The Department of Water and Sanitation, together with the affected municipalities continues to engage communities within the affected municipalities through their public education programmes to encourage responsible water usage and water conservation, particularly during the time of a tunnel closure.
With the inclement weather on us due to climate change, more than rainfall is predicted in the coming months, it is expected that there will be a much-needed water to storage facilities at some of the municipalities,” he said.
CEO of Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) Percy Sechemane, whose company is responsible for doing maintenance work on the South African side, said it is a well-known fact that South Africa is a water-scarce country and depends on the neighbouring country of Lesotho to supply the Gauteng region with water by using the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
“South Africa is paying lots of money to the Lesotho government to provide us with water and also for the maintenance of the tunnel that brings water into South Africa via the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, and people will have to understand that even though water originally comes from rain, they as residents must pay for it so that the Lesotho government can be paid its royalties and also that the project can be maintained,” he said.
“Lesotho is also doing maintenance work on its side at the same time we are doing maintenance on our side, and the two countries depend on each other as they both gain a lot from the project and there is no way Lesotho can stop providing water to South Africa,” he said.
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is progressing well and on schedule and Tshwane Talks was there on Friday to see the maintenance work that is being done on the project.
The maintenance project is set to take six months after it was shut down on 10 October 2024, and is expected to be completed on 31 March 2025.
The Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) is doing maintenance on the tunnel from the South African side, while the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency is doing the same on the Lesotho side.
The tunnel requires general inspection and repair every 5 years so as to ensure its entire integrity and reliability.
As a result of the shutdown of the tunnel, 700 million cubic metres (cm3) per annum will be transferred in 2024, resulting in a shortfall of 800 million m3 from the annual transfer volume of 780 million m3.
Water from Lesotho flies through the Ash and Liebenbergsvlei rivers in the Free State, and eventually spills into the Vaal Dam.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has out in place measures to ensure that as the tunnel has been cleaned of water for the purpose of maintenance work, municipalities that would be affected by lack of water continue to provide water to their residents.
Some of the municipalities which will experience water shortage are Thabo Mofutsane and Fezile Dabi.
Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority CEO Percy Sechemane announced that maintenance on the tunnel is done every five years and that the last time it was done was in 2019.
He also announced that his company was in the process of building phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
Raubex Construction engineer Andre Olivier announced that steel section of the tunnel is the one that would need a lot of work because previously only patchwork was done on it but now, they are going to do though maintenance work on it that would last for the next 15 to 20 years.
Cogta MEC in the Free State Saki Mokwena told Tshwane Talks that he was pleased that Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo had come to witness progress on the project for the second time and that for him as Cogta MEC, the tunnel is a marvel to watch and that it must be maintained at all times, adding that the maintenance project is all about giving security of water to the people and giving it an additional lifespan of 20 years.
“The presence of the national government to work with us as a province and as municipalities gives us confidence that the maintenance project is something that has been well-planned and I am therefore elated,” said Mokwena.