Residents of Makhuvha village near Giyani in Limpopo say they have been struggling to access clean water since a communal borehole stopped working in March last year, forcing families to buy water or collect it from unsafe sources.

Christine Mashel says her family has had to pay for safe drinking water since last year and blames the situation on the removal of a borehole pump by officials from Mopani District Municipality.

“We have been without water since March 2025. We buy water for R10 and we travel long distances to fetch water,” she told Health-e News.

“We often drink contaminated water and this poses severe health risks. We are suffering because we don’t always have money.”

Mashel says residents pay R5 for a 25-litre container of water or R250 for a 2,500-litre tank. Villagers told Health-e News that residents who cannot afford to buy water sometimes collect it from unprotected rivers or use collected rainwater.

Families fear waterborne illnesses

Mashel says her 14-year-old daughter became ill in August after drinking water the family had collected from their roof.

“We sometimes drink rainwater from the roof. The water isn’t clean because it is mixed with bird feces and dead lizards. My 14-year-old daughter fell ill in August. She complained of abdominal pains, severe headache, nausea and diarrhoea,” says Mashel. 

“I took her to the community clinic where nurses told me that she probably consumed something that unsettled her stomach. Some of our neighbours also experienced stomach complications. All we got from the clinic was allergy medication and educational health pamphlets,” she says.

Mashel says her family has resorted to boiling water and adding household bleach in an attempt to make it safer to drink.

“The usage of jik to disinfect contaminated water is an old tradition in many households. We boil water and pour a few drops of Jik in order to kill harmful bacteria in contaminated water.”

Children exposed to contaminated water

Mavis Manyape who lives in the nearby Petanenge village says her son was among 142 learners who tested positive for bilharzia at Malwandla Primary School in August 2024.

According to Manyape the affected children received treatment at Nkowankowa, Dan and Khujwana clinics in the Greater Tzaneen municipality.

“My son returned from school complaining of stomach pains and some blood in his urine. Nurses confirmed that he had bilharzia. Despite the household usage of contaminated water, children often swim in contaminated pools in the nearby bushes,” she says. 

Manyape says residents share water sources with animals, while children also swim in the water.

According to the  World Health Organization (WHO), bilharzia is a parasitic disease contracted through contact with freshwater contaminated with parasite larvae. The parasites can damage the urinary tract and intestines, causing long-term health problems if left untreated.

Water crisis major local election issue in Mopani District

Hitler Rikhotso, a community leader in Dan village, says the continuing water crisis will be a major issue for residents ahead of the local government elections.

“The water crisis in Mopani will strongly influence our voting decision,” he told Health-e News.

“For many years, villagers have been struggling to get water under the current local and district councils. Due to municipal incompetence to provide us with clean water, we depend on nearby streams like the Molototsi and Mai Mai rivers to get water,” says Rikhotso.

“Impoverished families buy water from people who have boreholes in their yards. We are forced to consume unsafe water daily despite the risks of waterborne illnesses.”

The water shortages continue despite years of government investment in the Giyani Bulk Water Project. The project was launched in August 2014 to provide reliable water to 55 villages.

At a parliamentary committee meeting on 19 August 2026, MPs raised concerns that the project was reported to be more than 90% complete, while residents in parts of Mopani District were still struggling to get water from their taps.

The project has also been dogged by corruption allegations. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) found irregularities in the awarding of a contract to LTE Consulting, which grew from approximately R90 million to R2.2 billion, with payments eventually reaching R4.1 billion.

Municipality confirms borehole problems

Mopani District Municipality spokesperson Mildred Risaba confirmed that two of Makhuvha’s five boreholes were not operating.

“Makhuvh village has five boreholes, and three of them are working and supplying water to residents,” Risaba told Health-e News. 

“One of the boreholes was disconnected because of the unsafe water. The second one became dysfunctional after the electricity transformer malfunctioned. We reported the matter to Eskom.”

Health-e News also asked Risaba whether the municipality had arranged alternative water supplies for affected households. Risaba said she was not the accounting officer and did not have information on the matter.