A giant concrete water reservoir and an elevated tower dominate the low skyline of Itsoseng township.
At a distance, residents push wheelbarrows with water containers, but this township outside Lichtenburg in the North West is not in the midst of a drought.
The reservoir, which cost about R30 million to construct, has become a white elephant and has not produced a single drop of water since it was constructed three years ago.
It is wasting away. Structural defects, including cracks to its wall, make it difficult to pump in water.
While the North West government has put aside R1.5 billion for drought relief in the province, Itsoseng is not in the midst of a drought, but has been subjected to poor management of its main water resource.
On those rare occasions when water is flowing from the taps, community activist Matjoi Mongale uses the opportunity to fill his bath tub. The tub has become his family’s water-storage facility.
Most of the households here have taken to buying large plastic tanks for water storage. Some buy water to fill up their tanks, while others make as many as 10 trips to nearby communal taps to fill up their containers.
Mongale said the problem of interrupted water supply runs as far back as 2006 and has escalated over the years.
He said there were parts of the township that had had no running water for over a year. “The area started experiencing interrupted water supply in 2006 and it has worsened over the years.
“We have areas that do not have water at all and just recently, the whole township went through a week without a single drop,” he said.
Where there was water, he said, it just trickled, due to low pressure, while other parts of the township only got water in the morning.
“The reservoir was built to address the problem, but now it has become a great disappointment. All we need is for the infrastructure to be fixed so that water reticulation can be back on again.”
Mongale, who is a governing body chairperson at a local school, said money had been diverted from the school to purchase water.
“We have spent about R50 000 on water storage, buying tanks and extending the supply network in the school just so that learners are able to flush toilets. At other schools they are unable to use toilets because they do not get any water and you can only think how their ablution facilities look in this situation,” he said.
Resident Merriam Malao said her gardening-service business had failed because of the water problems in the township.