The Leratswana community, located under the Nketoana Local Municipality, is frustrated and demanding access to water.
Residents allege that they have been without water for six months, and the hired water trucks are insufficient to meet the needs of the population.
Community leader Thapelo Maleka expressed concerns about favoritism in the distribution of water, alleging that water coordinators prioritize municipality employees by delivering water directly to their homes.
Maleka stated, “We don’t understand why delivering water to Leratswana is such a problem. Our community is small, and supplying water should not be difficult. Some members are forced to find alternative ways to obtain water.”
“This is heartbreaking. We don’t know what’s happening; we wonder if we have leaders because they are not doing enough. They receive water because they work at the municipality while we suffer,” the community leader emphasized.
It is alleged that some members of a particular political party favor their own during water distribution. The community is calling for municipality employees to take control of the water distribution process.
According to the residents, many community members have resorted to using untreated water from dams for laundry and from boreholes deemed unfit for use by the Department of Water and Sanitation. They fear that this untreated water, which may contain harmful microorganisms, could lead to illnesses.
The community is urging Free State Premier Maqueen Letsoha Mathae to visit the area and help resolve their crisis. A video sent to Free State World shows community members collecting water from a borehole.
Free State World sent a media inquiry to Nketoana Local Municipality for a comment. We were told that all inquiries are directed to the Municipal Manager (MM) as he is the spokesperson for the Municipality, and we were given his Secretary’s email and numbers.
Free State World emailed questions to the Secretary (Lisa Mofokeng) to forward to the Municipal Manager for a comment, and reminded her by WhatsApp and email about our questions for the MM but at the time of publishing, Free State World did not get a reply from the MM nor from Mofokeng.
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