Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister, David Mahlobo, has commended the progress made in the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) tunnel maintenance operations, which started last month.
Mahlobo and Deputy Minister Sello Seitlholo led an inspection of the maintenance operation at the Lesotho Highlands Water Project tunnel in Clarens, Free State, on Friday.
The joint maintenance operation by Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) and the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency (LHDA) is currently underway, following the tunnel system closure on 1 October 2024.
The TCTA is undertaking the maintenance operation on Delivery Tunnel North within South Africa, and LHDA will focus on the transfer tunnels at the Muela hydro power station in Lesotho.
Speaking at the inspection, Mahlobo commended the TCTA for the quality of the work delivered since the tunnel shutdown on 1 October 2024.
Mahlobo emphasised the ability of the two nations to cooperate and share the resources, noting that there are rivers that are flowing in between the neighbouring countries of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia and Botswana.
“This trans-boundary cooperation is one of the things that we need to promote because in other parts of the world, there’s conflict around the issue of sharing water,” Mahlobo said.
Mahlobo highlighted the other advantages, which benefit both South Africa and Lesotho.
“In Lesotho, they have a hydro power station to power the system. It’s clean energy… At the very same time, this side, we are able to supply [water] for domestic use and other economic uses, whether it is agriculture industries, powering a number of communities and provinces (sic).
“The water… touches more than 13 million beneficiaries because it touches the province of Free State, Northern Cape, North West, Gauteng, and it also touches Mpumalanga. That is the scale of it and it is massive,” Mahlobo said.
The Deputy Minister said the Lesotho Highlands Water Project was completed by the democratic government, as it was commissioned in 1998.
South Africa’s richness in engineering
Mahlobo said South Africa is rich with skilled people in engineering, science and technology.
“[The LHWP] is a very sophisticated and complex system, where you have to go through the mountains, and you can see very serious engineering just to put [up] infrastructure of this nature. You can see the technology that is used…
“There is a need for continuous maintenance when you have assets. Therefore, investing in an asset gives you a longer life span and this one is going to extend the life span for the additional 20 years,” Mahlobo said.
The Deputy Minister called for reduced water losses, reiterating that every drop of water counts.
Support for municipalities
Mahlobo reiterated government’s support for all the municipalities that are directly or indirectly affected by the LHWP system.
“We are satisfied that the system will be managed, [but we acknowledge] it will remain vulnerable because it is a life system. It must be monitored from time to time, [hence] the weekly meetings happening every Wednesday to oversee the work. We want to encourage the workers to continue to do a good job and we are very proud of the work they do.
“Our call for citizens to use water sparingly still remains. In as much as water will continue to be available, it must be used sparingly,” Mahlobo said.
The LHWP maintenance is expected to be completed on 31 March 2025. – SAnews.gov.za
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Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?