PPC mine in partnership with TLM to upgrade boreholes and water reticulation

DWAALBOOM – Dwaalboom Village (informal settlement), consisting of 112 households, is located approximately 80km West of Thabazimbi on Portion 7 of the farm Dwaalboom, 217-KP.

This settlement is connected by the road D1649 from Thabazimbi to Dwaalboom.

The area is characterized as a typical farming community with predominant PPC mining activities.

Skierlik informal settlement, approximately 40km North of Thabazimbi along R510 road between Thabazimbi and Lephalale, with 311 households, is a small farming area with the main focal point being mostly game farming. It has quite a few farm shops and a secondary school. Currently water is being delivered by a tanker to the settlement.

Thabazimbi municipality supplies water via a water tanker from Thabazimbi, from 2 boreholes located on the property. One borehole has dried up and the other borehole only has enough capacity to provide the school with water.

There is no electricity. Firewood is collected from the surrounding area.

There is a serious shortage of water in this two communities, the Skierlik community currently buys water from those who have transport to carry water from other communities, whilst the Dwaalboom community gets water from the nearby clinic which is approximately 5km from the dwellings. There is also a growing tendency to obtain water illegally from the nearby farm and this is creating a problem between the community and the farmers.

Investigations conducted at Skierlik informal settlement indicated that the area was entirely reliant on the boreholes which supplies the more than 300 households with water. Unfortunately, the borehole’s yield is frequently unreliable. During such outages, the informal settlement is supplied by water tankers.

As part of its Corporate Social responsibility initiatives, PPC mine has recently funded the construction of a borehole and water storage and reticulation system, as well as pumps for the communities of Skierlik and Dwaalboom.

The system ensures that the community will now have a daily supply of water available to them. To mark this contribution, a public participation and community engagement was held on 4 February 2014. During the public participation process, Mayor Patricia Mosito of Thabazimbi Local Municipality addressed the communities of both Dwaalboom and Skierlik on the project. She also thanked the PPC mine for their good gesture in making sure that they assist with water supply to the community.