Premier Mxolisi Dukwana will on Monday meet with mayors, chief executive officers (CEOs) and technical managers to deliberate on water leaks and other causes of water losses. 

The meeting comes as residents from across these municipalities, including the Bloemfontein-based Mangaung Metro, Welkom-based Matjhabeng Local and Theunissen-based Masilonyana municipalities have been at the receiving end of water issues. Some of these municipalities have been forced to implement planned water-shedding whilst at most water leaks or burst pipes have also played a major role. Some of these municipalities, including the Mangaung Metro as earlier alluded to by the water and sanitation Minister, Senzo Mchunu, loses a high percentage of water due to water leaks. Mchunu also cited these water leaks are at most caused by a lack of infrastructure maintenance.

In April 2022, Mchunu announced that the Free State’s only metro was losing about 46% of its water that could have been supplied to residents.

ALSO READ: 'Mangaung loses 46% of its water due to leakages

Recently the DA’s Rossouw Botes indicated that the Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke’s report of 13 February 2023 revealed that the metro allegedly spends R406.6 million a year due to water losses, which amounts to approximately R1.1 million per day.

ALSO READ: Water loss costs Mangaung almost half a billion per year

Just recently residents of the Mangaung Metro and Masilonyana Municipality were affected by water cuts. OFM News previously reported that Masilonyana could only restore water to Winnie Mandela, formerly known as Brandfort, after 10 days.

The water issue was due to a damaged Variable Speed Drive (VSD).

ALSO READ: Water supply fully restored in Winnie Mandela town

Mangaung Metro also recently had to implement emergency water cuts due to a damaged pipeline that led to the shutdown for repair work. This was after a contractor damaged a pipeline close to Caleb Motshabi in Bloemfontein.

OFM News