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- Allegations that a water-infrastructure syndicate is still operating in Vryburg were thrown around by at least three people who spoke to News24 in Vryburg.
- Residents have not given up and vow to continue standing up for the community, with one man willing to die for the cause.
- News24's Manifesto Meter elections tool compares political party manifestos. Read more here
Amid tensions over what Vryburg residents have described as a "man-made" crisis that has left thousands of people without water for months, one man is willing to lay down his life for his community.
Tebogo Lebona is a community activist, born and bred in Huhudi in Vryburg, which has been hard hit by a crisis that has lasted more than a decade.
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But the father of three told the News24 On the Road Team that the water woes in Vryburg were not a crisis.
"It's actually, it's a man-made thing. They've made this thing so that they can benefit," he said.
Lebona is one of many residents who believe the taps have gone dry in Vryburg for months due to a self-made problem that can be resolved easily if those at the helm want to resolve it.
And until the Naledi Local Municipality gets its house in order and ensures sustainable delivery of water, which it describes in official council documents as its "Achilles' heel", Lebona will continue staging protests against the lack of water.
He started speaking out about the municipality's failure to provide water in Vryburg in 2015, along with others who have since died or allegedly accepted bribes to quit speaking about the water problems in the area.
"Money is being used to [bribe] people who were working with me; they are also using money to pay people to damage boreholes," Lebona alleged.
"I cannot sell myself. I cannot sell [out] the people".
For years now, Huhudi residents have been using "water tankers", and they believe the provision of water to fill the tanks has become a money-making scheme.
But Lebona said he would not give up.
He added: "I think fear is the disease. We are not immortals; we are going to die at the end of the day, all of us. I can die any time. I don't fear anything."
"For us to be free, there are people who die for us, who sacrificed their lives for our generation.
"So, the future of the generation that is coming, who's going to save them?
"Because there are drugs, crime, and corruption. Who is going to save them?
"How are you going to raise the next generation? That generation is going to be worse. So, some people died for me. So, I would die for the next generation," he said.
Although Vryburg is a beleaguered, pothole-riddled town with high crime levels and unemployment, the residents who spoke to News24 said their most pressing issue was the waterlessness and the apparent political interference.
One such resident was community leader and pastor, Professor George Malebe, who echoed Lebona's sentiments about the water woes. Malebe also leads a group of faith leaders in the community who regularly meet to discuss issues plaguing them.
He was hesitant to speak about the matter due to its sensitivity, but said the water issues in Vryburg exacerbated already existing racial tensions in the town.
The pastor, who had just been elected to the Tiger Kloof Educational Institution governing body at the time that News24 met with him, said it seemed the water crisis in Vryburg affected a particular group and part of the town.
He described Vryburg as a "vibrant" town with a rich political history and the home of many past and current parliamentarians.
Despite the town spearheading the UDF's boycotting campaign, the water shortages in Vryburg have laid bare inequality in the town.
"I think I must be very careful about talking about this one where people are benefitting out of the plight of the majority of the poor, where the poor don't have water," he said.
He added what was puzzling about the water shortages was that although Vryburg was a central town, surrounded by other smaller suburbs, it seemed that some predominantly white and coloured parts of town were not affected.
"If you look at the geographic outlay. The town is in the middle, with coloured [people] on the other [side] and black people on the one side, but there will be water in town, at the same time, not water in Huhudi," Malebe said.
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He said questions had been raised about this, and that community members almost came to blows.
"How do we justify water here in the same community, but there's no water in another part of the community?" he asked.
The situation is nothing new. The ANC and national government have been aware of it since at least 2019.
In March 2019, as South Africa was heading into an election, then-Cogta minister Zweli Mkhize visited Vryburg, along with his deputies, Andries Nel and Obed Bapela, and former water and sanitation minister, Gugile Nkwinti.
They met with then-North West Premier Job Mokgoro, and local office bearers and officials.
"The meeting was a sequel to the visit by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who visited the area and amongst other things, listened to the community concerns, especially about water. The ministers were told of at least 50 000 people who are affected by water problems, of which 27 000 are in Huhudi, and others are in extensions 25 and 28," read a statement the department issued at the time.
A range of measures were announced, including that the "authorities will also be required to urgently deal with the vandalism of Mogopela pipelines that are supposed to deliver water to Naledi".
"The provincial government must explore use of private security to secure those pipes in addition to the capacity that will be provided by SAPS," the statement read.
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In April 2019, the Sunday Times reported that Mkhize believed a group of politically linked businessmen were deliberately sabotaging the water supply to obtain a R2-million-a-month contract to roll out water tankers.
In May last year, the DA in the Naledi Local Municipality called for an investigation into the contracts awarded by the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality to supply water to residents in Vryburg.
Despite the move to intervene, it's unclear if any criminal cases have been opened and if residents are still facing water outages.
Huhudi resident and entrepreneur Martin "Bozza" Seleboga, 50, who dabbles in tenders, said the only way to survive was to have a JoJo tank at home.
"It's difficult, our local municipality, they try with the JoJo tanks, and people have to travel long distances to get water. Without water, life becomes hard. What about the homes that don't get water for eight months? What do they do?" Seleboga asked.
