Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Suzette Steyn and Sesotho soundbite by Jafta Mokoena MPL. See attached pictures here, here, here, and here.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has escalated the worsening water crisis in Mafube Local Municipality to the provincial department of CoGTA and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). This action is to ensure urgent intervention after oversight inspections revealed severe mismanagement at the Frankfort and Tweeling water works.
The ongoing crisis leaves households, businesses, schools, and healthcare facilities without reliable access to water, forcing families to live next to the Wilge River yet without water in their taps.
Alongside Member of Parliament, Dr Igor Scheurkogel, Councillor Fako Tsotetsi and I, conducted a thorough water works oversight on Friday, 5 September 2025.
The Frankfort plant supplies Frankfort, Namahadi and Cornelia, while the Tweeling plant supplies Mahfahlaneng. Despite sufficient water from the Wilge River, residents have suffered shortages for months, in Tweeling, for years.
Millions in municipal infrastructure (MIG) and water services (WSIG) grants flow to Mafube Local Municipality. Yet, taps remain dry, ageing asbestos pipes, population growth, poor planning and no maintenance cause constant breakdowns.
Projects stall due to delayed payments, corruption, strikes, and no consequence management, leaving residents without water for days or weeks.
Our oversight in Frankfort found:
- No workers at the abstraction plant – a security guard ran intake via telephonic instructions from the technical director.
- Workers are striking over unpaid June/July allowances.
- Only one of three pumps is operational; replacement may take 10–12 weeks, with no confirmation from the Mayor.
- Only one worker at the treatment plant is forbidden to share information.
- Plant operating with 1 of 6 sand filters; replacement and cleaning halted.
- Cornelia and Nstwanasatsi go without water for days; Frankfort and Namahadi receive supply only mornings to afternoons.
Daily pipe bursts worsen the crisis.
Tweeling/Mahfahlaneng findings:
- Eight drilled boreholes are unused; they are said to be needed only in drought or LHWT shutdowns.
- A leaking abstraction pump and a weak second pump prevent filling the 2000ml reservoir.
- The reservoir receives only 1000 ML, which is insufficient to power the auxiliary pump station, resulting in daily outages.
Mafube residents face a worsening water crisis with no visible effort from the municipality to deliver services. Communities ask: “How can we live beside a river yet have no water in our taps while still paying municipal accounts?”