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Thorndale is located on north-eastern end of Ward 16 on the border of the Manyeleti game reserve. A huge dam that the whole of Ward 16 livestock owners depend on in the dry season is located between this village and another village, Seville B.
The assessment team arrived in the village and went straight to the Induna’s house. It was established that theIndunawas out attending to another community matter regarding the electrification of the village. Team then went to the venue of the meeting which was the local school. This process took place during school vacations, therefore did not interfere with school programmes.
Turnout was quite slow but people were steadily arriving. The chairperson of the CDF (Community Development Forum) officially opened proceedings and welcomed everyone. It was also explained to the community that the Induna was busy with the electricity company hence his absence from this meeting. [authors abstract]
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”
Seville B is located about eighteen (18) kilometres on the south-eastern side of Hluvukani. Its immediate neighbouring villages are Seville C (Ka-Million), which is in the west, Seville A in the south, Utah in the east and Thorndale in the north. All four villages are within a four (04) kilometre radius of Seville B.
A huge dam that the whole of Ward 16 livestock owners depend on in the dry season is located between this village and Thorndale. Seville B village structures do impose restriction on the use of the dam especially in the dry season, for livestock only. In the wet season some of the water from the dam is treated and pumped into the village reservoir for domestic uses while some of the water is pumped to the neighbouring villages, Utah and Dixie respectively. [authors abstract]
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”
Seville C is located about sixteen (16) kilometres outside of Hluvukani. This is probably the only village in Ward 16 that does not have water availability problems. There are two boreholes that are located between this village and another, Thorndale. These two boreholes are shared between three villages.
Initial contact with the village is made through the villageInduna(head-man) and the chairperson of the village CDF (Community Development Forum). A meeting was held with these two structures to introduce the SWELL (Securing Water to Enhance Local Livelihoods) concept and to highlight the intention of carrying out an assessment process in the village. It was agreed that the process can take place, a date for the assessment was set and the CDF together with theIndunabegan inviting villagers to and making arrangements for a meeting that was held at a local crèche/ kindergarten. The initial meetings were not very difficult to organise given that the chairperson of the CDF in Seville C is a plumber working at the Hluvukani Regional office of the Municipality. we had met him several times before and some form of relationship had already began to develop. [authors abstract]
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”
Seville A is located about seventeen (17) kilometres on the south-eastern side of Hluvukani. Its immediate neighbouring villages are Seville C (Ka-Million), which is in the northerly direction and Seville B (Makrepeng) which is on the north-eastern side. Both these villages are just about five (05) kilometres outside of Seville A.
A pre-assessment meeting was held with the villageInduna(head-man) and members of the Initial contact with the village is made through the villageInduna(head-man) and the CDF (Community Development Forum) including its chairperson. The purpose of the assessment was introduced to these structures that then showed some level of interest in having it take place. [authors abstract]
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”
Hluvukani is the capital of not only Ward 16, but for Wards 15 and 17. The regional offices of the local municipality, the DWAF (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry) technical and the mobile SAPS (South African Police Services) are all located in this village.
There was a change of venue from the initially agreed venue to a local church so the facilitating team had to wait for people to move from one venue to a new venue. [authors abstract]
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”
Lephong village is located near Athol (another village in the Ward) in the south most side of Hluvukani. Sothois the predominant language used by residents in this community while Xitsongais the language in the whole of Ward 16. According to the latest demarcations, this village will be moved to another Ward, i.e. it will no longer form part of Ward 16. The fact that it will be moved to anther ward got some members of village leadership concerned. The concern was with regard to the work that would be carried out by AWARD (the Association for Water and Rural Development), whether it would be useful for them the “new” region that they were being moved to.
The team arrived and found that very few people had turned up for the meeting. The CDF member reassured the team that villagers would come as soon as they realise that the team has arrived. Some of the team members, especially those from government departments, arrive in these villages in their own or work vehicles. One person from the Department of Agriculture suggested that those that had vehicles drive out to remind people of the meeting.
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”
Hlalakahle is on the Northern, upper-most part of Ward 16. It can be accessed through a main road from Gottenburg or another main road from Thorndale. The northern part of the village is the Manyeleti Game Reserve.
Initial contact with the village is made through the villageInduna(head-man) and the chairperson of the village CDF (Community Development Forum). The CDF in this village is mostly made up of very active women who also run the local crèche/ kindergarten. A meeting was held with these two structures to introduce the SWELL (Securing Water to Enhance Local Livelihoods) concept and to highlight the intention of carrying out an assessment process in the village. It was agreed that the process can take place, a date for the assessment was set and the CDF began inviting villagers to the meeting. It was held at the crèche/kindergarten, which also is the venue for the mobile clinic that visits the village once a month. [authors abstract]
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”
Dixie is located on the most southern part of Ward 16, approximately forty (40) kilometres east of Acornhoek and about twenty (20) kilometres east of Hluvukani. It is flanked on one side by the Manyeleti Game Reserve, which is a government-run nature conservation reserve, and on the other by a privately-run game farm, the Sabie Sand Game Reserve. It is at the end of one long, straight stretch of road that extends from Athol (another village in Ward 16), passes outside Seville B and next to Utah – both are villages in Ward 16.
Dixie is only about 3 km away from its neighbouring village, Utah.
It had been decided by the village leaders that the meeting was to be held at the crèche. Some team members were not happy with the arrangement, citing that it would be breaking the law if this meeting was going to affect the children who attended school. It was then decided that the venue be changed and moved the meeting to the Induna’s kraal. [authors abstract]
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”
Gottenburg is located about ten (10) kilometres on the north-eastern side of Hluvukani. This village shares a name with two other neighbouring villages, Thlavekisa and Hlalakahle known as Gottenburg B and C respectively. These are the names used by the department of Agriculture whereas the local municipality uses the local names. Thlavekisa is on the west of Gottenburg and is not in Ward 16 while Hlalakahle is located on the north side.
Initial contact with the village is made through the village Induna (head-man) and the chairperson of the village CDF (Community Development Forum). A meeting was held with these two structures to introduce the SWELL (Securing Water to Enhance Local Livelihoods) concept and to highlight the intention of carrying out an assessment process in the village. It was agreed that the process can take place, a date for the assessment was set and the CDF together with the Induna began inviting villagers to and making arrangements for a meeting that was held at a local school. It was during school vacations so the process did not interfere with school programmes. [authors abstract]
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”
Delani is a very small village, situated about six (06) kilometres just outside of Hluvukani village. These two villages also share a name, Eglington C and B, respectively. Eglington A is not part of Ward 16.
Initial contact with the village is made through the villageInduna(head-man) and the chairperson of the village CDF (Community Development Forum). A meeting was held with these two structures to introduce the Securing Water to Enhance Local Livelihood (SWELL) concept and to highlight the intention of carrying out an assessment process in the village. It was agreed that the process can take place, a date for the assessment was set and the CDF together with theIndunabegan inviting villagers to and making arrangements for a meeting that was held at a local school. It was during school vacations so the process did not interfere with school programmes.
The Traditional Authority was represented by the village IndunaThe presence of the Induna means a lot to these kinds of processes since there is a tendency by either the Traditional Authority or Local governance (the CDF in particular) to not attend when the other either of the two present. [authors abstract]
This report is a part of : “South Africa - Access to water and livelihoods in Ward 16, Bushbuckridge”