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Polokwane overview Polokwane: No water, no play
Polokwane: No water, no play
April 2019 saw me head off to Polokwane to get a better understanding of the malaise being caused by continued issues with water delivery. Recently, Property Review took to cyberspace and the good old telephone to find out what, if anything, has improved in the past year. We zoomed in on SAPOA’s Polokwane Regional Chairman Paul Altenroxel, SAPOA’s “resident” town planner Jaco du Plessis, Franco Marx of Franco Marx Attorneys, DA council member Frank Haas and young entrepreneur Zeus Maboho
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By Mark Pettipher To read last year’s roundup, go to bit.ly/2UgcVQx
Picking up from where we left off last year, my first Zoom landing was Paul Altenroxel. He got straight to the point: Polokwane is in crisis. “Water is the life blood of the city, and we’re on the brink of seriously running short,” he said. “I can say this with certainty, as from where I’m sitting, I overlook the Ebenezer Dam. It looks like it’s at about 26% of capacity, and we’re at the end of our rainy season (typically January through March).
“Polokwane’s water crisis is a man-made disaster – a combination of a number of events, starting with unfinished work on the Tzaneen Dam. Work had been initiated on the dam wall, to heighten it, but the contractors have since abandoned the project, leaving the dam only capable of holding 60% of its capacity. Today, the level is reported to be at 7.2%.”
Altenroxel is deeply concerned that few dams have been built in the past 30 years, and that the rapid increase in human habitation of the urban edge, coupled with lack of financing and maintenance of existing infrastructure, will continue to strain an already stretched municipality. In a recent Polokwane Review newspaper article dated 4–10 March, Nelie Erasmus reports as follows: “The city now receives less than half of the usual supply of bulk water needed for normal water usage, as further restrictions were imposed upon Lepelle Northern Water’s extraction from the Olifantspoort and Ebenezer Dam by the Department of Water and Sanitation in January.” The article echoes Altenroxel’s concern that, “if heavy rains do not
augment the Ebenezer dam’s level considerably, Polokwane will not be able to receive any water from the dam by July.”
In the same article, Erasmus writes that the volume of bulk water received from the two schemes (Ebenezer and Olifantspoort) has been reduced from a combined total of 66ML/ day to 52 ML/day. (They should deliver 71ML/day as contracted, to service the city, Seshego, Mankweng and rural areas.)
A restriction of 20% of water extraction from Ebenezer and Olifantspoort was announced last year by the Minister of Water Affairs. A further restriction of 15% extraction of water from the Ebenezer Dam followed in January this year. To add to the calamity, some of the Ebenezer Dam’s water was released to the Tzaneen Dam to keep the dam above 4%.
In our conversation, Jaco du Plessis alluded to a July 2019 quarterly SAPOA Town Planning Report, where he reported that the Minister of Water and Sanitation visited the city on invitation of Mayor Thembi Nkadimeng. The purpose of the invitation was to inform the Minister of the dire water and sanitation situation. Presentations were made by the Polokwane Municipality and Lepelle Northern Water, covering the following: ● The municipality is fully aware of the severe socioeconomic impacts of the persistent and significant water deficit in Polokwane municipality, due to a number of factors: ● Insufficient bulk supply and flow of water within the city itself; ● Bulk supply and distribution of water in rural areas; ● The old and inadequate infrastructure of the three main sources of water supply to the municipality (Dap Naude, Ebenezer and Olifantspoort Schemes) in terms of capacity; ● More water being extracted from Ebenezer Dam than the water licence permits, and no time for maintenance due to high water demand; ● Groundwater development needing to be improved and fully utilised; ● The present water demand of the city being much higher than the combined bulk water supply from these three schemes. ● The municipality established the water supply challenges for urban and rural areas, determined solutions and planned and prepared short-term as well as medium- and long-term interventions to address the challenges. ● There is a need to invest ±R450-million over the next 18 months to develop groundwater for urban areas to relieve the most pressing urban source water needs, and ±R90-million is needed to explore, determine and start with the development of groundwater sources for rural areas.
● Lepelle Northern Water (LNW) requires a budget of approximately R3-billion for the immediate upgrading of the Olifants-Sand Regional Water Scheme (RWS). ● R700-million is required by LNW for the immediate upgrading of Ebenezer RWS. ● In the long term, LNW will require an estimated R11-billion to upgrade all bulk infrastructure conveying water to Polokwane urban and rural areas. ● Latest studies show that to bring water from De-Hoop Dam (±35km southwest of Steelpoort) to the municipality requires a budget of more than R14-billion. ● With the current available licence for water abstraction from Olifantspoort and Ebenezer, LNW must spend approximately R3-billion to upgrade the infrastructure to convey an additional 30-40ML/day to Polokwane. ● For both rural and urban areas, groundwater development was found to offer the best option for immediate/short-term development.
The following short-term solutions are being addressed: Identification and exploration of all bulk groundwater resources within the boundaries of the city have been completed as part of the first phase of the Water Master Plan. Condition assessment of existing groundwater systems within the city boundaries in terms of their stage of functioning and their adequacy is complete. A thorough yield analysis of all the existing and newly identified bulk groundwater supply resources has been done, and additional boreholes have been drilled. The municipality is ready to request tenders for the following remedial measures (estimated to cost between R400-million and R450-million, with construction duration estimated at 18 months): ● Reconfiguring the infrastructure associated with the existing groundwater systems and the ones to be developed, to cater for an integrated surface and groundwater system. ● Equipping, repairing, upgrading and treating of all existing and new groundwater resources. The order of magnitude of the additional water that these groundwater resources will bring to the city during peak demand periods is about 30ML/day. This is close to 25% of the current water use in the city.
The following medium-term solutions have been identified, and are being addressed with the relevant stakeholders: The planned reclamation plant for effluent at the Regional Waste Water Treatment Works when constructed has been finalised. Initiatives are undertaken to increase the supply from Dap Naude and Seshego WTW up to 6ML/day.
The following long-term solutions have been identified: Engaging with LNW to secure the budget to upgrade certain sections of the Olifantspoort and Ebenezer systems would bring an additional 25-30ML/day of water to town at an estimated cost of R3.1-billion.
As part of the long-term plans, the municipality will continue its negotiations with the Department of Water and Sanitation to finalise the pipeline from De-Hoop Dam to Polokwane (which was initiated in 2012) as well as the final upgrading of the Ebenezer and Olifantspoort systems.
Summary with respect to surface water augmentation for urban and rural areas The municipality needs to invest approximately R540-million in the next 18 months to develop groundwater for urban use, and explore and determine groundwater sources in rural areas. Lepelle Northern Water requires a budget of approximately R3-billion for the immediate upgrading of the Olifants-Sand RWS to supply an additional 30ML/day to Polokwane. A budget of R700-million is also required by LNW for the immediate upgrading of Ebenezer RWS infrastructure to supply an additional 18ML/day to Polokwane.
As part of the long-term interventions, LNW will require an additional estimated R11- billion to upgrade the required bulk infrastructure conveying potable water to Polokwane.
Lepelle Northern Water summary ● R3-billion is needed for Ebenezer upgrade to supply Polokwane. If villages along the pipeline are included, R11-billion is required. ● In terms of the Olifantspoort scheme, LNW has a water licence to extract 90ML/day. Water works can only handle 62ML/day; this needs to be upgraded. ● R11-billion is needed for Olifantspoort upgrades. ● The upgrading of Olifantspoort to increase the plant’s capacity from 62ML/day to 150ML/ day is still in the planning phase.
In short, the presentations did not provide any new information regarding the water crisis. They did, however, paint a clear picture to the Minister that Polokwane has a serious water crisis, with serious economic and social implications.
In the same report, Du Plessis writes, “The water supply to Polokwane City remains a crisis.” The Polokwane Review (22 January) reports that water supply to especially the higherlying parts of the city was interrupted again due to low reservoir levels. The reason provided by the Polokwane Municipality was “low reservoir levels”. The areas included Ster Park, Flora Park, Eduan Park, Serala View, Moregloed, Lethuli Park, Madiba Park and Seshego. A public notice issued by the Polokwane Municipality stated that water supply would be restored once reservoir levels improve. It was reported on a WhatsApp group that some households were without water for up to seven days after the weekend.
Police had to disperse angry crowds after residents of Flora Park took to the streets on 27 January 2020 to get the attention of the Mayor regarding a lack of service delivery in the area. The Polokwane Review (29 January) reports that residents said they are fed up with intermittent water supply for the past four years. They also complained about the inadequate supply of water from water tankers.
The levels of main supply dams to the city, according to figures released by the Department of Water and Sanitation, are as follows: ● Dap Naude Dam: 80.9% (88.3% previous year) ● Ebenezer Dam: 23.3% (65.3% previous year) ● Flag Boshielo Dam (Olifants Scheme): 109.5%
Statement by the Mayor regarding water supply The Polokwane Review (29 January) reports that the Mayor admitted during an ANC meeting on 23 January 2020 that the municipality had failed to plan properly in terms of the city’s growing population, and that getting water to the city is a major challenge. She said that “the pipeline that gets water to the city was built in 1978. Pipe bursts often disrupt the supply for three days and longer. When it rains heavily, it disrupts operations at the Olifantspoort pump station, which then cannot pump due to turbidity of the water.” She further stated: ● Pipelines from the Flag Boshielo Dam were approved in 2012, but have not been constructed yet; ● “The news is not good. We are all going to get water from tankers”; ● Strategic planning with regard to water and roads in the municipal area is incredibly important, and developers wishing to develop new areas would be required to pay a development levy; ● The city currently has 67 boreholes. More are needed, but boreholes remain an unreliable temporary solution; ● Residents who have boreholes will be restricted from using these, and soon – no-one will be allowed to drill for water in the city;
● A commitment was made to start collecting revenue for services in Mankweng – this would be done “even if we have to hire Casspirs to collect it”; ● With regards to the many property owners in Mankweng who do not pay their dues, “We will terminate their services.”
The Polokwane Review reported an explanation as to why Mankweng property owners do not pay for their services, including electricity: “The municipality is not legally in a position to take Mankweng residents to court over unpaid municipal services.
“In a council meeting in March, members heard that properties in Mankweng were still – incredibly so – registered under the old Republic of South Africa system, and had not yet been registered in the name of the municipality (or the date of registration was not known to the municipality). The result is that the municipality does not know whether to debit, and from when the debit for services dates. What is more, the city couldn’t say whether the area has ever been ‘donated’ or registered to formally fall under the Polokwane Municipality.”
We asked Du Plessis for a town planner’s perspective on the Mayor’s statement. “I’m not sure where this issue of ‘had not been registered in the name of the municipality yet’ is coming from,” he said. “Ownership of properties in the proclaimed Proclamation 293 townships of Mankweng (Seshego is also a Proclamation 293 township) is held under Deeds of Grant that are registered in property owners’ names in the deeds office. These properties will not and cannot be transferred to the municipality.
“Ownership of sites in the rural villages outside proclaimed townships is held in Permission to Occupy (PTO) certificates issued in terms of the Land Regulations of 1969 (Proclamation No. R188 of 1969). These PTOs will over time be upgraded to full ownership (title deeds). This process will take years to complete.
“Some traditional authorities are against the upgrading of PTOs, for obvious reasons – i.e. they fear that they will lose control over their subjects. Almost all tribal land in Limpopo is owned by the state and held in trust for specific traditional communities.
“The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) controls traditional land. The DRDLR is in the process of transferring the urban component of the land to the relevant local authorities for administration of service delivery and land use control purposes. The DRDLR only wants to control the non-urban component of tribal land. The outer figures of land on which rural villages are located will be surveyed, and these farm portions will be transferred to the respective local authorities. The local authorities will technically own the ‘underlying’ land, as the sites in the villages are not surveyed and not registrable in a deeds office.
“The Polokwane Municipality will not, however, become the owner of rural residential and business sites, as these properties are owned by people in terms of informal land rights (PTO). Despite this, I’m still not convinced that the Polokwane Municipality cannot do cost recovery for services rendered in such rural, unproclaimed areas.”
To get a legal take on the newspaper article, we contacted local lawyer Franco Marx. “We all understand that an owner of a property must pay rates and taxes according to the property’s zoning category,” he said. “We are talking specifically about Mankweng, and a farm known as Syferkuil, on which some of the stands are situated. If the argument is that the Republic of South Africa owns the farm, then the Republic must pay rates to the municipality – either residential rates, or rates under properties owned for public service purposes.
“I’ve explained in Council that the resident in possession of the PTO is in a similar position as a tenant in a sectional title complex in town. If the tenant uses water and electricity, he must pay for his consumption. Same with the PTO occupant: he must pay for his consumption. The fact that the occupant is not the owner cannot be the reason for not paying for consumption.
“If the municipality insists that they cannot collect consumption charges from Mankweng PTO occupants, the solution is easy – because obviously there is no obligation to supply those occupants with water and electricity.”
“Non-payment for services as a result of an incorrect account or old debit is also not a valid excuse. Section 102(2) of the Municipal Systems Act, read with our Debt Collection By-Law and policy, allows for a dispute procedure to be followed. Therefore if I’m a resident who alleges that my account is wrong, there is an obligation on me to follow the procedure to dispute it.
“From a councillor’s viewpoint, both Frank Haas and I have petitioned the municipality to take action. Considering that the municipality needs funds to carry out maintenance and further upgrades, it is difficult to fathom why they have recently scrapped surcharges.
“Furthermore, in Polokwane and Seshego – where people actually pay for their services – the municipality enforces penalties, and even cuts residents off illegally, without notice. Clearly the municipality is using good paying areas to make up for Mankweng, which is not a paying area.”
We also spoke to DA councillor Frank Haas, who told us that there’s a need “to differentiate between the city (formerly Pietersburg) – which includes Seshego – and the outlying areas of Mankweng. The city relies on mains water, whereas the outlying areas are mainly served by borehole. The city needs a minimum of 99ML/day and only receives 69.4ML/day – and that’s if everything runs at 100%, which is often not the case.
“While there are plans to upgrade the Olifants line, this will only alleviate the problem in the short term. The plans need to better take into account the increased population growth; if taken at face value, these initial plans mean that the solution will still remain unsustainable.
“But it’s not all doom and gloom. The new City Manager, Dikgape Makobe, has been making headway within the city, and is doing a good job. Had we had him in place 10 years ago, we would not be in the crisis we find ourselves in now.” It is a sentiment with which both Du Plessis and Altenroxel agree. In last year’s Property Review article, we touched on the issues with the Polokwane Wastewater Treatment Works, and that it was being upgraded. According to Haas, this is still on track. Both Haas and Altenroxel are advocates of developing water recycling, but are painfully aware of the time and money needed to set up such a plant. Both also mentioned that whenever long-term projects that go beyond a five-year period are approved and initiated, they tend to get hampered by municipal management changes and a lack of continuity. This, of course, is not unique to Polokwane.
Last year, I saw first-hand the illegal use of land in the area. According to Haas, there has been an escalation, further exacerbating the city’s predicament of not being able to enlarge its tax and rates-paying base. Haas is of the opinion that “there is no excuse for people not to be paying for the services the city provides”. He also points out that the Polokwane district “has the highest allocation in South Africa towards the indigent population”.
From conversations with Altenroxel, Haas, Marx and Du Plessis, it would appear that city officials and the national government are aware of the looming crisis, but lethargy and stunted financial support, poor policy clarity, and a lack of implementation of sound plans are the main causes of the city’s predicament.
A year down the line, there has been a partial lifting of the building moratorium, but it seems the only difference is that, where before developers and town planners could not even submit applications, now they can. The process stops with the approval of such applications – and developers cannot submit building plans before the moratorium is fully lifted.
Du Plessis believes that Polokwane is probably 18 months away from the lifting of the moratorium. However, whenever it may come, without water the city will still be unable to get developments out of the ground.
Entrepreneur frustration Young entrepreneur Zeus Maboho bought a car cleaning and maintenance franchise about 18 months ago. He needs to get his business off the ground, but is being frustrated by delays in municipal approvals. It seems that he is falling into grey areas within the moratorium – or, at the very least, experiencing a lack of clarity on procedure.
“We identified two sites for the franchise, one near the mall and another in an existing building,” he told us. “The site near the mall needs to have the premises built, and has zoning consent; the second is a car showroom – so all we need to do is modify the building to adhere to the franchise specifications, and renovate it to take into consideration certain environmental requirements, such as increasing the size of grease traps. This site has zoning in place; all we want from the municipality is a change of use from sales to maintenance.”
Maboho said that the application for the second site has been in with the municipality for more than eight months. It would appear that the municipality is holding up plans and approvals on technicalities – and not offering any clarity as to what those technicalities are so that issues can be resolved.
“The issue here is that we’ve spent capital to purchase the franchise,” says Maboho. “We’ve developed a business plan that shows potential employment for 59 people (something that is sorely needed in Polokwane), all with an expected return on investment that should have started by now. Sixty-seven percent of the capital to finance the franchise came from my existing business; the remainder came from an extension of a bond, so from a bank. Now we have to repay the bond without any income to cover it.”
There is an outgoing of knowledge in Polokwane, and it is evident the city is experiencing its own “brain drain”. People with the means to leave are doing just that. Could Maboho soon be following suit?
In an article published on Fin24 on 20 February 2020, Lameez Omarjee writes: Municipalities can’t pay up because they’re not being paid, MPs hear The debt owed to municipalities far outweighs the debt municipalities owe to Eskom and water boards, members of Parliament heard on Tuesday.
Thembi Nkadimeng, president of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) on Wednesday addressed MPs during a debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address. In his address, Ramaphosa announced that government would allow municipalities in financial good standing to procure power from independent power producers.
SALGA represents 257 local governments. Commenting on the financial position of municipalities, Nkadimeng noted that R25-billion and R14-billion is owed to Eskom and water boards, respectively, and that they are threatened with disconnections from these entities for failure to pay. Municipalities, in turn, are owed close to R170-billion by households, businesses and government for services rendered. Households account for the majority of the debt – R120-billion – followed by businesses, which owe R25-billion, and government, which owes R10-billion. “It is evident that there’s a clear link between ability of municipalities to pay debt – including that owed to Eskom and water boards – with the inability of municipalities to collect revenue from government, business and households for the services we deliver,” said Nkadimeng. ”The situation is becoming untenable for municipalities, constantly threatened with disconnections by Eskom and water boards.” SALGA has recommended that municipalities “aggressively and on an ongoing basis” use credit control measures – such as targeting government properties and businesses with disconnection if there is sufficient merit to do so, and if it is in line with credit control policies, she said. “It is not right for government and business to owe municipalities and not pay bills,” Nkadimeng emphasised. Secondly, SALGA has recommended that a “rigorous analysis” on debt be conducted, and smart meters be installed to ensure the payment of electricity. Speaking to members of the standing committee on public accounts on Tuesday, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said that the power utility was disconnecting power from areas where payment is between 0% and 30%. He said Eskom could not afford to supply electricity at no charge. “When a service is supplied, a payment must be made,” De Ruyter said. m.fin24.com/Economy/South-Africa/municipalities-cant-pay-up-because-theyre-not-being-paid-mps-hear-20200220-2
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The SAPOA Journalism Awards for Excellence recognises and honours South African property journalists who have made a noteworthy contribution to the commercial and industrial property industry through quality media coverage of the property industry.
Nominees and winners will be announced at the 2020 SAPOA Annual Convention & Property Networking taking place from 09-11 December 2020 at SUN CITY.
