The sooner Thabazimbi elects a DA government, the sooner it starts fixing its water problem

17 October 2021

Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered today by DA Leader John Steenhuisen in Thabazimbi, Limpopo. Pictures are attached here, here and here.

Good morning, fellow Democrats, fellow South Africans

It is wonderful to be here in Thabazimbi, in the incredibly beautiful Waterberg District of Limpopo. I love it here. I just wish I could come more often and stay longer.

This is truly a spectacular part of South Africa. Wonderful climate, warm-hearted people, majestic mountains, lush vegetation, all in a strategic location at the edge of the Bushveld, on a wealth of minerals, near the economic heart of South Africa.

Thabazimbi absolutely bursts with potential. This municipality has all the ingredients for success.

Everyone living in this magical place could and should feel that there are plenty of opportunities here to build their lives and live life to the very fullest. Everyone who wants a job should be able to find one.

The local economy should be as strong as the “iron mountain” after which Thabazimbi is named, and next to which it is situated. The opportunities here – in agriculture, in tourism as a gateway to the bushveld, in mining – are exciting and endless.

But Thabazimbi has one major problem - its local politics. The local council is not delivering the conditions needed for the people of this Municipality to really thrive.

And so being in Thabazimbi fills me with a mixture of hope and frustration. The general “vibe” here should be growth and progress. Instead, it’s one of stagnation and unfulfilled potential.

Not only is Thabazimbi the gateway to the Bushveld, but it has the Marakele National Park on its doorstep too. Many tourists and hunters and weekenders visit this area, and many more would like to do so.

But let’s face it, this town needs to be cleaned up if it is to fulfil its economic potential as a visitor hotspot. Potholes need filling, streets need cleaning, littering needs to be dealt with.

But Thabazimbi has a far bigger problem than this. And that’s its water problem. We all know that no household, no tourism business, in fact no business at all, can thrive without water.

In this day and age, there should not be a need for water trucks to deliver water to JoJo tanks in the higher parts of town. This is a truly ridiculous situation, which should be unacceptable to anyone. And water shortages here have been going on for far too long.

Water trucks and JoJo tanks are short-term solutions to problems caused by a failure to plan for the long-term.

I’ve heard that the 10-million-litre Regorogile Reservoir has been 95% complete for the past 5 years. Residents have been looking at this Reservoir daily for 5 years but still have no water in their taps.

And even when this reservoir is finally completed – if indeed it is ever finally completed – that will not be the end of Thabazimbi’s water problems, although it is a very necessary project.

The fact is, Thabazimbi’s water infrastructure is aging. It is crumbling under years of neglect. Over 40% of water is being lost to leaking pipelines and faulty valves. That number is only going to grow.

Make no mistake, Thabazimbi’s growing water problem and its uncertain water future is an enormous issue that will ultimately decide whether this municipality succeeds or fails.

And there are no short cuts to fixing it. There are no quick-fixes. Thabazimbi needs to do the hard yards of replacing aging pipes and valves. Metre by metre. Kilometer by kilometer.

Let’s be clear. The only way to get the Regorogile Reservoir completed and the water pipes and other water infrastructure fixed is to fix the local government.

Thabazimbi won’t fix its water problem till it fixes its local government problem.

I am here to tell you that the sooner Thabazimbi elects a DA government, the sooner it starts replacing its water infrastructure and the sooner it starts thriving as a municipality.

Why am I confident to say this? Because the DA gets things done. We get things done because we have a recipe for success.

A simple but powerful recipe for success: we expect public servants to get things done for the public, and to spend public money on the public, and we hold them accountable if they don’t.

This is the winning formula which produces successful municipalities wherever the DA governs with a full majority for an extended period of time, such as Midvaal in Gauteng, and many, many municipalities in the Western Cape.

This is the winning formula which has ensured that the top five best-run municipalities and the best-run metro and best-run province in South Africa are all DA-run, according to independent ratings agency Ratings Afrika.

For the 2019/20 financial year, the Auditor General awarded clean audits to 18 of the Western Cape’s 30 municipalities, and they were all governed by the DA. Five of the seven municipalities that sustained their clean audit status over four years are DA-governed.

Clean audits mean local government are spending public money efficiently, and on the public.

This is exactly the opposite of how the ANC governs, which is to appoint political cronies, and to pay them whether they work or not, and whether they spend your money on you or not.

This is why the Special Investigating Unit was called in to investigate serious allegations of corruption and maladministration by the entire ANC administration in this Municipality, pre-August 2016.

But the municipality is so deep in debt to Eskom and Magalies that it cannot pay the R5 million needed for the SIU report to be released.

However, in August 2016, enough voters of Thabazimbi recognized the problem with the ANC to get them out of power.

Unfortunately, though, the DA only got 5 seats out of 23. Voters split the vote between too many parties, and so the only way to get the ANC out was for four very different parties to form a governing coalition.

This governing coalition inherited empty offices, no equipment, an enormous debt to Eskom, and a workforce with a typical ANC culture of: you get paid whether you work or not.

And I think you will agree that even though the coalition has managed to stay “together”, the last five years have not been a success story.

The problem is that these four parties are very different. The other three parties do not share the DA’s values, vision, commitment or work ethic.

The Administration still refuses to hold poor performance accountable. So we sit with municipal employees who know that whether they work or not, their job is safe.

This is a recipe for failure, not success. There is only one recipe for success, and that is putting people in the job who can deliver and holding them accountable if they don’t deliver.

I am here to tell you today that if you want long-term solutions to your water problem, if you want a government that gets things done, if you want to unleash the full potential of this incredible place, you need to give the DA a full majority here in Thabazimbi.

That’s first prize. If we don’t get a full majority, we at least need to be the largest party in the governing coalition, so that we have enough say to implement our values and our vision. Even taking just three seats off the collapsing ANC would make us the biggest party in council.

How will things change under a DA government?

Some change will be almost immediately visible, such as cleaner streets and fewer potholes.

But the reality is that it takes time to turn around a municipality’s finances. It takes time to weed out the council workers who expect to get paid for doing nothing and to fill positions with people committed to getting things done. It takes time to replace broken infrastructure.

Make no mistake. You will see the DA difference. Every day a little bit more.

But it takes time, so the sooner you vote in a DA government to get things done here, the better.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, 15 October 2021