The Portfolio Committees on Water and Sanitation and Human Settlement have noted progress by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) in addressing the Nandoni Complaints Resolution Committee’s concerns in Vhembe District, Limpopo.
The Nandoni Complaints Resolution Committee (NCRC) includes people who were affected by the construction of Nandoni Dam in 1998, and come from a number of villages under the Mulenzhe, Mphaphuli, and Tshivase traditional councils.
In April this year, the NCRC submitted a petition to the Speaker of the National Assembly raising concerns, including compensation, poor workmanship on the houses given to them by government, and lack of water.
Responding to the Speaker’s request, the portfolio committees over the weekend conducted a two-day oversight visit in Vhembe and Giyani districts to engage the relevant municipalities and other role-players on the concerns highlighted in the petition, and facilitate further engagements to find solutions on all of the concerns.
Over 1 200 affected parties compensated
Water and Sanitation Committee Chairperson, Robert Mashego, said during the visit, the committees heard that initially, there were 1 362 affected parties, but 22 were removed from the list following a rigorous verification process.
“The committees also learned that 91 of the affected parties were compensated from 2001 to 2005, and 1 160 more were compensated from 2019 to 2022.
“The rest could not be compensated due to a number of challenges, such as incorrect banking information, repetition of names, parties not traceable and lack of confirmation of ownership of the affected plots,” Mashego said.
Mashego said the committees noted that the question of compensated was not much of an issue, more than the amounts of compensation.
Refurbishment of all houses to be completed in December
On the issue of poor workmanship on the houses given to the affected parties, the committees heard that 147 out of 387 houses in Manini, Thilongoma, Dididi, Mulenzhe and Budeli Villages were refurbished in June and July 2022.
“The rest of the houses are in the process of being refurbished and will be completed in November and December this year,” Mashego said.
The committees also heard that the bulk infrastructure for water reticulation to Tshitomboni, Tambaulate, Dididi, Mulenzhe and Jimmy Jones villages is being constructed by the Vhembe District Municipality, which will be responsible for 85% of the project, while 15% will be constructed by the Department of Water and Sanitation.
“Other service delivery issues of concern raised in the petition were lack of roads and bridges. The DWS undertook to complete the roads and bridges construction projects in February and April 2023, respectively.
“Also, the other issue of concern was the relocation of graves and the department said the project would take only three months upon confirmation of the new site by the project steering committee. According to the department, consultation with all affected parties was done and consent was granted,” Mashego said.
He said the committees will deliberate on their observations and compile a joint oversight report, which will be presented as feedback to the Speaker. – SAnews.gov.za
