After a construction period that took 12 years at a cost of R657-million – R187-million over initiation estimates, the Xonxa water augmentation project outside Komani still does not provide a drop of water to communities.
The Xonxa Dam was originally built in the 1970s to provide water for farmers in the former Transkei. But in 2012, it was decided that the dam was needed to augment the water supply to the Komani area.
The Chris Hani District Municipality has ignored all requests for answers, but has published a “fact sheet” where it said it was taking the service provider of the pumps – which were meant to last 60 years, but broke after six months – to court. Also, it said an overseeing engineer had been fired.
The extensive water augmentation project worked for only six months from December 2020 to May 2021. Another R21-million has since been spent on pumps and still no water is reticulated from this dam.
An update on the project was provided to the Eastern Cape Legislature in late 2024 by MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Zolile Williams. Williams confirmed that water was not being pumped from the dam. Last week the Department of Water and Sanitation reported that the dam was 100% full.
When asked by the Democratic Alliance’s Retief Odendaal why no water was being pumped from the dam, Williams answered that after water was extracted from the dam for six months (December 2020 to May 2021) there was a mechanical pump failure and this had added R21-million to the cost of commissioning the project.
Phase 6 of the Xonxa Dam Transfer Scheme – Xonxa 4ML Water Treatment Works – is marked as “achieved” in the 2024/2025 audited and signed draft annual report from the Chris Hani District Municipality.
Timeline of failure
The following timeline could be constituted from official announcements by the municipality. Initially, the thinking was that the dam would be commissioned by November 2018.
In August 2018, as a devastating drought in the Eastern Cape put the Komani District under severe water stress, the municipality said it was “testing and rectifying” the dam and the pipeline project was almost complete.
In November 2019, as the other supply dam to the Komani district, Bonkolo Dam, also failed, the municipality reported: “Meanwhile Xonxa flanges repair work is in progress – the team is expected to undertake both repairs and testing to speed up the process. We will keep the community informed.”
In November 2019, the municipality announced that the Xonxa water project was being repaired: “The contractor is busy on site replacing some of the parts that malfunctioned during the attempt to commission. These include: Valves, bolts and gaskets.”
In June 2020, after the pumps stopped working, according to Williams’ response in the legislature, the municipality announced that the Xonxa pump station was undergoing repairs to all pumps.
In the same month, pumping began again, but then stopped. In a “Facts about the Xonxa Dam” document published by the municipality, it was stated that pumps that had a lifespan of 60 years had failed after six months.
In December 2020, it was estimated that repairs to the dam would take “no more than four months”.
On 10 January 2025, the municipality posted, “Repair works continue in Xonxa pump station. Transformers are being serviced and testing of voltage is in progress. Further updates will be provided.”
With the Bonkolo Dam declining below the extraction point, communities have suffered extensive water outages since January.
However, according to a community notice, the repairs to the Xonxa pump station are at an advanced stage to be ready to begin pumping from the Xonxa dam by March.
Community suffers
In his State of the Nation Address last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated that “an urgent priority is to ensure a secure and reliable supply of water across the country”.
Thulani Bukani is among the community leaders in Komani who have been living with extensive water outages for a long time.
Read more: Communities demand answers as taps run dry in Komani while supply dam remains full
He is also the accused in a criminal case, with other community leaders, charged with malicious damage to property for damaging JoJo tanks in the community during a water protest.
“When we were in court, the police and the prosecutor opposed our bail applications. The magistrate asked why they didn’t oppose the case of a man who was stealing water, but for us, they wanted to keep us inside?”
“My community is badly affected by the water issue. Particularly the women. They prepare the food, they prepare children for school. They look after the cleanliness of the household. It affects them so much more.
“What makes it even worse is the lack of communication from the government. They don’t talk to us. They just implement their own interventions. The ANC cadres get to put the JoJo tanks where they want to and the municipality sends the water trucks when they want to,” Bukani said.
In January, as temperatures soared, the humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers provided emergency water relief to communities.
“We have asked for a borehole,” Bukani said.
“This municipality doesn’t clean the JoJo tanks. They are dirty. We found ‘dead things’ inside of them and dirty diapers.”
He said the community had embarked on mass action on 21 January, but they have since received rationed water.
“There have been many excuses,” he said, “load shedding, water reservoir capacity, the water valves at the Bongolo Dam and problems with the reservoir.”
The DA’s Chantel King, who has filed a promotion of access to information application for insight into all documentation relating to the dam, said, “Despite being aware of the low water levels at the Bongolo Dam since 2012, the Chris Hani District Municipality continued to rely on it as a primary water source. This, combined with recurring water infrastructure failures at the Waterdown Dam, raises concerns about the municipality’s ability to manage water resources effectively.”
Bukani said the lack of water affected their children’s schooling as schools had to close early.
“But our community is very strong. We don’t stand alone in court and we don’t stand alone outside.” DM