Matibe made the promise on June 26 to then acting chief executive of the hospital, Nditsheni Mathule, who had indicated that they were struggling to run the hospital because of inconsistent water supply water.

Mathule told Matibe about the serious shortage of water in the hospital during a summit presentation for the Mayor held at the hospital.

“Nurses are sometimes forced to come to work with water in buckets in order to help the hospital running.

“This affected our service to the patients because using water from buckets makes everything run slowly. It’s very frustrating because we cannot use the theatre with no running water,” Mathule said then.

The summit was a presentation of the hospital’s successes in the previous financial year, and the challenges it faced.

With the help of three business people, Percy Sambo of Bukuta Solidarity, Velaphi Nemafhohoni of Vhembe Water Drilling and Immorial Building Construction together with Livhuwani Phophi of TLM Engineering Services and Mushavo Trading Enterprise, Vhembe District Municipality promised to provide consistent supply of water to the hospital before the end of July.

A borehole was drilled by Vhembe Water Drilling on Monday morning which was conducted by Matibe, Thulamela Mayor Grace Mahosi, Local Chief Mphigalale and hospital chief executive Richard Mufamadi.

Nemafhohoni said: “This water will be available soon, but we must first send the sample to the laboratory in Pretoria where they will check if it will be good enough to be used by the people.

“As there are no mines in this area, the process of sending a water sample is just a formality as we are positive that there is no contamination in the water. However, we will wait for eight to ten days for the results to come back and then the water will be ready to be used by the hospital community.”

Matibe said he was happy that the municipality delivered its promise in record time. He praised Lucy Mulaudzi whom he approached for a solution to the water shortage problem at the hospital.

“I am very impressed by the pace at which Mulaudzi responded to the task given to her. If all of the councillors and officials take their jobs seriously like what Mulaudzi has done, our people will not complain about service delivery in this district,” said Matibe, while also paying homage to the three sponsors.

Mufamadi said he was happy that the district municipality has solved the problem of water shortage in the hospital.