By Emily Setona
QWAQWA — Maluti-a-Phofung’s service delivery crisis is not just about broken pipes and stalled projects — it is sabotage. That is the explosive claim by Executive Mayor Tumelo Thebe, who dropped the sabotage bombshell during a heated special council sitting on 16 September as councillors confronted him over collapsing services.
Responding to Ward Councillor Shashapa Motaung’s outcry over a prolonged water crisis in Makwane and unfinished roadworks, Thebe did not deny failure — he alleged deliberate interference.
“I’d like to just say on the issue of Makwane, it’s also in Bochabela, Phahameng, that we see that this issue is purely sabotage,” Thebe told the council chamber.
Motaung, who has spent months raising the Makwane water crisis in council — often for hours at a time — welcomed the recent intervention by Thebe and Municipal Manager Mzwakhe Mofokeng.
He said the crisis could have ended long ago if his warnings had been heeded.
“The crisis could have been resolved a long time ago had the previous mayor listened to my concerns. MAPWater was handling the situation badly; they were not patient.
But right now, the people handling the matter are hands-on. They are checking for the problem by checking each and every valve,” Motaung said.
Council Speaker Mandlenkosi Dlamini praised Motaung’s persistence.
“Thank you, Councillor Shashapa, for raising this point of gratitude because it’s been during a number of council sittings that it took two or three hours, you raising this issue. You persisted and now the EM and MM have come up with a solution,” Dlamini said.
The sabotage claims extended beyond water.
Thebe told council that key infrastructure projects are being crippled by land ownership battles, revealing that a traditional leader had halted a major road project, claiming the land belonged to his authority and demanding a service-level agreement (SLA) from the municipality.
The dispute has escalated, with lawyers now representing the traditional leader against the municipality.
Thebe’s remarks lay bare two crises paralysing Maluti-a-Phofung: an internal crisis he calls sabotage — allegedly disrupting water supply to Makwane, Bochabela and Phahameng — and an external crisis where land claims and legal fights are stalling roads and infrastructure development.
For residents who have gone weeks without water and months waiting for roads, the mayor’s sabotage charge raises a new, unsettling question: who is sabotaging Maluti-a-Phofung — and why?
One Response
My question still remains: when will the residents of Sehlajaneng get water from their taps? Is it because the ward councillour is not from the ANC? Water is one of the basic services residents are entitled to