Crossing stinky sewage on the way to school, no power at home: The struggles of Thaba Chweu

Residents of Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, which includes Lydenburg, Mashishing, Sabie, Graskop, and Pilgrim’s Rest, are gearing up for local government elections after enduring years of poor service delivery. Among the many issues facing the community are sewage spillages, persistent water shortages, decaying infrastructure, and unreliable electricity.

The struggles of Thaba Chweu were brought into sharp focus when The Citizen visited Mashishing township, where sewage was flowing in the streets. This is just one aspect of the municipality's ongoing failure to deliver basic services, according to DA senior member Sonja Boshoff. She highlighted the municipality's lack of political will to resolve the sewage spillages, which only seem to worsen as they are temporarily fixed.

Boshoff's account of the community's hardships included residents enduring the stench of sewage flowing through residential streets, including areas near schools, and living without electricity for extended periods. Unemployment is also a significant concern, with small businesses closing due to the combined effects of unreliable services, including water shortages, sewage spills, poor roads, and power outages.

Despite these challenges, Boshoff expressed optimism about voter turnout, stating that education initiatives had shown many residents were prepared to vote effectively. Pompie Ledwaba, president of the Mpumalanga Civic Coalition Movement, echoed these sentiments, noting that despite years of failed service delivery protests, residents remained determined to vote. He attributed this readiness to vote to the lack of progress in addressing the community's basic service needs.

Ledwaba criticized the municipality for prioritizing the salaries of municipal employees over the needs of the community, pointing out that municipal staff have the resources to purchase clean water while residents are forced to consume polluted water. He also questioned the municipality's handling of sewage infrastructure projects, alleging that millions of rand have been spent on repair attempts without success.

Ledwaba further pointed to the municipality's failure to learn from previous contractor failures, insisting that repeatedly appointing unsuccessful contractors exacerbates the municipality's service delivery problems.

Municipality spokesperson Ezrom Sekgobela acknowledged the municipality's efforts to address the water supply challenges and sewage spillages, outlining several ongoing interventions. These include refurbishing the Lydenburg Water Treatment Works to improve performance and increase water supply, implementing the Mashishing Extension 2 Bulk Sewer Gravity Line Project to enhance the sewer network, and upgrading the Lydenburg Wastewater Treatment Works to improve capacity, efficiency, and wastewater treatment.

Sekgobela emphasized that these measures are part of the municipality's broader plan to upgrade water and sanitation infrastructure, tackle existing service delivery challenges, and provide more reliable and sustainable services to the community.