RESPONSIBLE ACTOR While the provision of water is the responsibility of the municipality, Venetia mine commits to working with the municipalities and host communities to address concerns in a responsible and consultative manner
Following the protests over water shortages in Musina last month, a meeting was convened between the Musina local municipality, the Vhembe district municipality and diamond miner De Beers’ Venetia mine to find ways to assist the municipalities in efficiently and safely resolving the issue.
While the provision of water is the responsibility of the municipality, Venetia mine noted that it had always been committed to working in partnership with the municipalities and host communities to address concerns in a responsible and consultative manner.
The company welcomed the contructive engagements it had, and noted that it was engaging with the municipality to discuss options on how it could provide support through the following interventions:
• To work with the municipalities and submit a short-term proposal to supply additional water tanks to the municipality;
• To assist the municipalities with conducting a detailed study of the water supply, storage and distribution capacity in the municipality; and
• To support the implementation of a medium-term solution by exploring the drilling of boreholes to augment the current water supply.
“We value our communities, employees, contracting partners and stakeholders, and we will continue to engage on issues that are brought forward to find an amicable solution.
“With the safety of the community of Musina, our employees and contractors being our number one priority, we continue to monitor the protests and work closely with the local authorities and community structures to ensure the safety of our people,” the mine stated at the time.
It noted that it understood the frustration of its community and appealed for calm while working in partnership with the local municipality to deal with water challenges.