'How long should I wait?'

Gothataone Moeng | Monday December 9, 2013 14:19

For the last two years, Joel Motshubi, an unemployed father of four has locked horns with the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) in his quest to have access to water.

According to Motshubi, the problem started in January 2012 when he experienced an intermittent water supply, which culminated with his household tap finally running dry in February 2012. Motshubi said he immediately reported the matter to WUC offices in Molepolole. After a 10-day wait, during which he did not receive any feedback, he went back to the WUC offices to complain, only to be told he was not the only one with a problem as there was a water shortage crisis in the village.

Motshubi was frustrated by the knowledge that some households in his ward had consistent supply of water due to being connected to a pipe about 50 metres from his yard. When he enquired he was told that it was not possible to connect him to the same pipeline. 

Then after a meeting with WUC officials on February 29, 2012, it was resolved that he should be connected to the pipe.  Two weeks later, on March 14, after broken promises, unreturned phone calls and avoidance, he returned to WUC, and the officials said they would unblock valves at Lewis Primary School. Once again, it was all talk and no action. 

He then took the matter up with the Ombudsman.

“I am disappointed to tell you that to this moment [WUC] has not come to me, and I am sure they will never come to me,” Motshubi wrote in a March 29, 2012 letter to the Ombudsman. “I am now appealing to you and kindly ask you to treat this matter as one of urgency.”

On May 24 2012, Motshubi received a response from the Office of the Ombudsman signed by a I. Makaba, who noted that the WUC had investigated Motshudi’s complaint and had advised the Ombudsman that: as a resident of Lekgwapheng la Motanka, which is one of the wards that experience water shortage, the situation is not unique to Motshudi, but affects all but two plots that were erroneously connected from a transmission line supply to Scottish Livingstone Hospital, and that his application that he be connected to the same line was not approved.  According to Makaba, the WUC further advised her office that they have put interventions in place to address the situation, and bowse water to the ward on a daily basis.

Motshudi replied the Ombudsman disputing the WUC stance.

“It is only me and three yards in my vicinity that are experiencing no water at all from their taps as from February 2012,” he wrote. He also disputed that water was bowsed to the ward daily, saying that only one neighbour gets water bowsed to him, and that the drivers driving the truck bowsing the water refuse to let him get water from the truck.

In their May 24, 2012 letter, the Ombudsman told Motshudi that Molepolole is scheduled to be connected to six additional boreholes at Bolwelwe and Botlhapatlou Wellfield as a short term intervention, which is expected to exponentially alleviate the water shortage in the village, which has then an estimated population of over 63,000.

Clearly exasperated Motshudi wrote back to the Ombudsman: “I don’t think it is fair for me to wait to be connected to the boreholes mentioned.  The mentioned boreholes are over a 100 kilometres from Molepolole.  For how long should I wait?”

In an August 8, 2012 letter, the Ombudsman reiterated that the WUC insist that they bowse the ward daily. Once again, Motshudi disputed WUC’s defences.

“[It is] not true that water is bowsed to my area on a daily basis, in fact water is not bowsed to my area at all,” he said.

Further, he revealed that even after he had bought a 5000 litres Jojo tank and had paid for water to be bowsed to his household, this did not happen until after numerous enquiries from him.

Further, an increasingly irritated Motshudi advised the Ombudsman to come to Molepolole and observe for themselves if indeed water was being bowsed daily in his ward.

“I kindly ask you to make a visit and hear from the residents after which you should report [WUC official] to the relevant authorities so that she can be charged with giving false information to a person employed in the public service.

You cannot be expected to perform your duties to the required standard when people like her tell you lies,” he wrote.

Motshudi told Mmegi that even though the Ombudsman went to Molepolole, they did not go to his ward.  However, they arranged to meet with Motshudi and officials from WUC Molepolole. In August 2013 the Ombudsman outlined what was discussed at the meeting: that investigations were carried out for his household, that institutions were given priority as far as bowsing was concerned, that water shortage is not specific to Molepolole, and water is not bowsed to individuals. 

That although there is still shortage in Molepolole, water supply was said to be better, that Motshudi himself had had some improvement in his water supply since he bought his Jojo tank.

 The Ombudsman also confirmed that the connection of the six boreholes is scheduled to be completed by December 2013.  With these, the Ombudsman officially closed Motshudi’s file, by saying that they believe that WUC is doing everything in their means to see to it that there is water in the village.

However, Motshudi is still not happy and has since written to the Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), saying he feels that an offence was committed in the course of the correspondence. At the time of going to print, the DCEC had not responded.