The water crisis in the Limpopo capital Polokwane remains a significant challenge despite recent infrastructure improvements aimed at stabilising supply.
According to the municipality, the commissioning of the Seshego water treatment plant in May 2024 and other planned upgrades have increased water production. However, many residents, particularly in high-lying areas and townships, continue to face severe shortages. Complaints of dirty water, unreliable supply and inadequate water tankers highlight the persistent struggles of communities including Seshego, Polokwane Extension and surrounding villages.
Frustration is mounting among residents, with some accusing the Polokwane municipality of failing to uphold its responsibility to provide clean and consistent water. Political parties, including the EFF and DA, have criticised the municipality, with the DA laying criminal charges against officials for noncompliance with water service regulations.
Kgaugelo Mmatli from Seshego Zone 3 said they have experienced water challenges since 2024.
“I feel like the Polokwane municipality is taking its residents for granted. We are being billed every month for water that is dirty or hardly coming out from our taps. I feel like we shouldn't be forced to buy purified water just because the water that is coming out of our taps is dirty. Their water tankers are also unreliable because they usually come after 9pm. After I posted nothing was done, it's only this week when the water became better,” she said.
Another resident of Seshego, who wanted to be identified only as Donald, said they have been struggling without water.
“We are facing a crisis because there is nothing we can do without water. We are forced to go look for water far from here. The situation is even worse at work (school) — we are working with children and teaching them about hygiene.”
He said it was a challenge because without water, the pupils could not use the toilets, wash their hands and flush.
"Without water it becomes bad because they are now forced to eat with dirty hands and that's not what we are teaching them,” he said.
He said schools don't have enough money to buy JoJo tanks or water.
“Some children don't come to school because their families can't afford to buy water every day ... we even have children who come to school without bathing — it is a very big challenge.”
“We wish the government could fix this challenge and we are worried that our learners will end up being sick because of the lack of water. Most of these children eat here at school, we have to cook for them and wash the dishes after they eat. That means if we don't have water a lot has to stop, the school cannot buy water and cater for everything in the school. We have more than 800 learners who must use the toilets, we have to feed them and they have to wash their hands,” he said.
The municipality must never claim an easy victory, because they can't deliver on their mandate. There is an intervention from the office of the premier, which is trying to assist the collapsed metro to provide potable and clean water
— Lawrence Mapoulo, EFF provincial chairperson
The Polokwane municipality says the commissioning of the Seshego plant has significantly improved the water supply in Polokwane.
It says this major development, coupled with the implementation of pressure management measures, has ensured that water reaches the high-lying areas, particularly in Zones 2 and 3.
Polokwane municipal spokesperson Thipa Selala said as part of the ongoing improvements, the operations and maintenance team installed new pipe connections and control valves in February to regulate supply, particularly benefiting high-lying areas.
“The city has been actively implementing water conservation and water demand management measures, including reducing reservoir outlets overnight to maintain optimal levels. This strategy has helped stabilise supply, especially during peak demand periods.”
Selala said by September, the new Sandriver North water treatment works will add more water to the system.
However, Selala said while supply has improved across most areas, some high-lying pockets particularly in Polokwane Extension, may still experience interruptions during power outages or major system failures affecting various water sources.
EFF Polokwane provincial chairperson Lawrence Mapoulo lambasted the municipality for claiming an easy victory.
“The municipality must never claim an easy victory, because they can't deliver on their mandate. There is an intervention from the office of the premier, which is trying to assist the collapsed metro to provide potable and clean water,” Mapoulo said.
Mapoulo said the water of Polokwane is dirty.
“It's not clean. Our people are exposed to danger, they are consuming poison. The people who are trying are the office of the premier after realising that the municipality and the mayor are failing the people of Polokwane in general. The people in the villages — our gogos — don't have water; forget about those in towns. Polokwane is surrounded by villages and the young men and women who are supposed to go to school have to wake up early in the morning to collect water from afar with wheelbarrows,” he said.
Being a resident of Flora Park, he confirmed that the area also has no water. He said the improvements the municipality is claiming do not exist.
“You will see young men carrying two 20-litre [containers] crossing the busy R71, they are not focusing on their school work. Drinking water with animals, that is what our grandmothers are exposed to,” he said.
DA caucus leader Jacques Joubert, who lives in a high-lying area, said that in his neighbourhood, Moregloed, residents go without a water supply for five to 10 days, depending on the severity of the situation.
Joubert said the area was first affected about six or seven years ago.
“It's a good six years ago that we haven't had constant water in the area, even before that, we had sporadic problems. If you don't have a tank and a pressure pump, you will never have water in the area I stay in. So what happened then is there was intermittent water. So you could do your planning to an extent because usually in the evenings, when the water demand subsided, our area started getting water,” he said.
He said most areas experience periodic water shortages, with some being affected more severely than others.
Joubert added that other affected areas include Bo-Dorp, Bendor, Sterpark, Seshego, and Eduan Park.
He said residents without water tanks or pressure pumps have to rely on water tankers for supply.
“You have to rely on municipal tankers to deliver water, and with the demand, it's impossible with the few tankers to deliver water to all residents. At the start, they didn't want to deliver into tanks, they only wanted to give us a couple of buckets at a time. The problem gradually became worse , so we negotiated with the municipality to deliver into tanks and we would have a mechanism to monitor because the municipality didn't have any mechanism to monitor deliveries,” he said.
He said a pilot project was initiated by one of the councillors for water tanks to be placed at strategic locations around the city for public access. These tanks were filled by private businesses.
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