Abstract
M.A. (Development Studies)
Water service delivery in the Mopani District Municipality has been under scrutiny since 2009. A regional drought incurred in 2009 severely affected water service delivery in 55 villages in the Greater Giyani Municipality area. As a result, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry declared Giyani a disaster area in need of an urgent water intervention. Long-term plans to ensure provision of water in Giyani commenced later in 2009. These included the implementation of water projects which were aimed at channelling water from the Nandoni Dam in Venda to Nsami Dam in Giyani. Such projects were not successfully completed as they were suspended by a Johannesburg High Court ruling in 2014 due to issues of corruption and non-compliance of service providers. The project was then continued later in 2014 under the supervision of the former minister of the Department of Water and Sanitation. Five years later, 2019, the Giyani water project was still on-going at a slow pace while residents continued to live with intermittent water supply...