We, the residence of Pudimoe Ward 5 have been for several years observed continued decline in basic services delivered to our area. As the rate paying community of Pudimoe of which services rendered are being paid for by the community and contributing to some revenue generated by the municipality. The direct impact of intermittent disruption of electricity and water supply are the following,

�  Businesses that rely on water supply have lost revenue
�  Spoilt food, loss of income caused by days of no electricity
�  Impact of social well being due to lack of water and electricity
�  Impact on the quality of life
�  Increased cost of living in seeking alternative resources i.e gas and water
�  Delay in construction and repair activities caused by lack of water and electricity
�  Impact on education

The poor service delivered by GTLM cannot be tolerated anymore and we therefore demand the municipality to immediate address the above issues.

This memorandum highlights how the appalling levels of service delivery and unprecedented levels of incompetence continue to adversely impact the lives of the people of Pudimoe. We believe the critical shortage of competent and committed leaders further contributes to the calamitous state of service delivery.

Electricity Supply

The recent public protest in Pudimoe have exposed a serious power crisis in Pudimoe exacerbated by lack of communication from authorities. It has become normal for authorities not to have the decency to communicate issues with residence and rather turn a blind eye to the problems impacting our daily lives.

Our community are enduring days and weeks without electricity due to the lack of infrastructure maintenance, upgrade and cable theft.

This situation also plays right into the hands of indiscriminate criminals that have taken an advantage of neglect from the municipality as demonstrated by the recent theft and vandalism of electrical substation for which under normal circumstance, should have been adequately guarded or secured.
The recent theft and vandalism of electricity substation have exposed the root cause and consequence of ageing and unmaintained infrastructure, yet little to nothing has being done to address this prior to the theft incident.

Regarding electricity shortage, we demand answers to the following questions,

What is the direct cause of frequent electricity supply interruption? Rain seems to exacerbate the problem.
What is the action plan to address the current problem? We need a detailed action plan with timelines to address this problem.
What plans have been put in place to prevent similar theft and vandalism from taking place?
Why was the substation not maintained and upgraded timeously to prevent the persistent interruption and what plans are in place to prevent this from happening in future?
Why is Eskom Taung not having the capacity and competency to resolve these issues and rely on resources from Klerksdorp given the fact that they service more than 150 villages around Taung?
Why is Eskom not proactive (early warning) to know when the power if off and rely on community to call them for outages?
We need detailed plan to address the short term (current problem), medium and long term plans with timelines to ensure the current and future reliable and sustainable electricity supply.
Water Supply

It has been almost 2 years now that GTLM has normalised the intermittent water supply disruption and no communication from authorities regarding this issue. The water supply issues in Pudimoe are significantly compounded because the Pudimoe Water Treatment Works (WTW) is a critical, constrained source for a wider regional bulk water scheme, necessitating rationing that compromises local supply.

�  Regional Supply Drawdown: The Pudimoe WTW is a major source supplying water to a vast network of settlements. This includes bulk supply to Vryburg (via the Pudimoe-Vryburg pipeline), Huhudi, and numerous villages in the Greater Taung Local Municipality (such as Matlhako, Mogopela B, Myra, and Khibicwane). The total regional project serves a projected population of over 217,000 people.
�  System Constraint and Rationing: The Pudimoe water supply system is currently constrained and the existing infrastructure struggles to meet the combined regional water demand. As a result, authorities implement ongoing treated water rationing amongst various communities, including Pudimoe itself, to ensure an equitable distribution of the limited available water.
�  Raw Water Limitation (Canal Capacity): The supply is limited at the source because the canal bringing raw water to the Pudimoe plant from the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme is reportedly too small. This constraint prevents the plant from operating at its full capacity (reportedly providing only 12 Ml of a required 19 Ml).

Source Confirmation: The analysis of these regional demands, system constraints, and the raw water canal capacity issue are based on formal documents such as the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) reports, and municipal Annual Reports, which serve as the region's official Water Master Plans and service delivery records.
Regarding water shortages, we demand responses to the following questions:

What is the root cause of poor water supply that have been normalised by the municipality and how long will this problem prevail?
What is the short, medium and long term action plan, with detailed timeline to address the water outage and ensure sustainable and reliable supply.
What plans are in place with the Vaalharts Water/Department of Water and Sanitation regarding the necessary upgrade (i.e. enlargement) of the canal that supplies raw water to the Pudimoe WTW?
Given the ongoing necessity of rationing, by what date will a formal, written Water Distribution Schedule (Rationing Timetable) be developed, published, and strictly adhered to, ensuring that all residents receive fair and predictable access to water during specified times, rather than the current arbitrary disruptions?
What specific, inter-governmental mechanisms (e.g., a signed Service Delivery Agreement or Joint Operations Committee) exists between the Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality (as the Water Services Authority), the GTLM, and the Bulk Water Operator (Magalies Water) to ensure the sustainable and reliable functioning of the Pudimoe WTW and its associated network?
Other Relevant Issues

Whilst Water and Electricity supply outages are the current immediate problems to be dealt with, we also need to raise other issues that require your attention

�  Poor state of roads littered with portholes around Ward 5. Significant number of streets not yet paved and no known plans in place to address.
�  Lack of maintenance of street lighting making our areas susceptible to opportunistic crime.
�  Evolving and increase level of drugs in our community and authorities not addressing this issue.

In conclusion

The community of Pudimoe are hereby advising the relevant authorities under the leadership of Executive Mayor and Municipal Manager that your days of failing to govern this municipality in the best interests of all its people and of neglecting to deal with the seminal issues that compound the misery of the people of this Ward 5 are coming to an abrupt end.

We are not only placing this inept municipality on terms that the 2026 Provincial elections will be the beginning of the end of your term in office, but we also wish to inspire every person in Ward 5 that has had enough of being undermined by incompetent authorities that the days of accepting this poor level of service delivery must come to an end.
We Deserve Better!