Important South African town falling apart in front of everyone’s eyes

Effective service delivery in the once bustling town of Lichtenburg remains a pipe dream for residents, who say that all their cries for help fall on deaf ears.
Ironically, Lichtenburg means the ‘Town of Light’ despite suffering prolonged electricity blackouts, which can last for weeks.
In 1926, Jacobus Voorendyk discovered a diamond on his family farm. Within 12 months, there were 108,000 fortune seekers on the scene. The subsequent diamond rush lasted a decade.
After the diamond rush subsided, Lichtenburg became an important part of South Africa’s agricultural value chain, particularly in maize, sunflower, and meat farming.
It forms part of the Ditsobotla Local Municipality, whose head office is in the town and was established through the amalgamation of the former Lichtenburg, Coligny, and Biesiesvlei Transitional Councils.
It is also prominent in cement production, boasting industry giants like Afrimat and Afrisam, situated in Dudfield, about 20km outside of Lichtenburg.
Lichtenburg used to have the largest Clover cheese factory until 2021, but service delivery failures saw them pack up shop.
BusinessTech and Daily Investor visited Lichtenburg at the tail-end of 2024 and were confronted with a flurry of failures.
With another new executive at the helm and numerous service delivery protests since, BusinessTech put on new tyres and paid the town another visit to speak to residents and businesses.
“I grew up in such a beautiful place. I grew up knowing that every day when I wake up, there is water coming from my tap and electricity,” said life-long resident Ronald Masedi.
Shopworker Naledi (name changed due to fears of intimidation) said she moved to Lichtenburg 19 years ago looking for work after finishing school.
“The first time I came to Lichtenburg, things were going well. It was a clean town and there was service delivery,” she said.
However, soon afterwards, “everything went down the drain.” “Our quality of life has deteriorated so badly,” said Masedi.
Masedi said that while many across the country have begun recovering from load-shedding that saw food in fridges rot and children study in the dark, residents here have not felt that relief.
Much of the electrical infrastructure in the town is old, dilapidated and/or vandalised.
Vandalised electrical infrastructure


“When it comes to water, we have no water.”
“When it comes to water, we have no water.” The residents and businesses that do receive water in the town experience intermittent supply.
The municipality turns on the water in the town at around 7 am and turns it off by around 11 am. That means that if one’s work shift is before then, having running water remains a pipe dream.
Naledi, who needs to take care of two children and her ill, elderly mother, says that this makes life debilitating.
Prolonged water disruptions are common. Masedi said that he had been without water for around 7 weeks.
Others have said that they have been without at times for months to years in some cases.
Most businesses and residents with the means have boreholes or buy from those who have.
There are also evidently many water tankers across town, whose profiteering off water failures has proven a lucrative business in many municipalities across South Africa.
But for those who do not have the means, especially in the poorer communities, it can be dehumanising.
Close to the municipal buildings, we came across young children who were filling up water from a dirty, burst pipe to take to their community.
“There’s nothing working where we stay. No water, no sewage, nothing,” said 11-year-old Promise.



Lichtenburg is drowning in refuse
Refuse dumping and lack of by-law enforcement have meant that one would see kilometres of roads on the outskirts of town smothered in garbage.


Poor road maintenance
Another key metric of service delivery is road maintenance. The roads are dilapidated and riddled with potholes.
One drive around town showed that it is difficult for any resident, tourist or business to move around town.
In some areas, the traditional tar roads have become gravel roads without any signs that they will be restored to their former glory.






Businesses struggling
While many businesses have continued to push through, the operating environment has been challenging.
Leading South African agricultural business NWK Limited has just under 2,000 employees and has over 11-decade ties to Lichtenburg.
NWK CEO Pieter Kleingeld said service delivery troubles have been prominent over the past 15 years, “but the last five years, it’s basically unbearable.”
NWK has made provisions to alleviate the challenges, but Kleingeld said it has a detrimental impact on employees.
The company and many other businesses have tried to help by spending money on pumps, driving road repair initiatives, and providing expertise in repairing aged and failing municipal infrastructure.
However, it is described as like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound.
Agrico, an irrigation manufacturer employing more than 130 employees in Lichtenburg, has also had to adjust to failing services.
“It has been years since we got water to our actual factory,” said factory manager Hannes Kruger. Agrico has had to, like most in the town, rely on borehole water.
Kruger said that another significant problem is the unstable supply of electricity, given that the aged infrastructure cannot meet increasing demand. When trips do happen, contractors are hesitant to take up the job.
Agrico bought a thumper so that they could locate cable faults themselves to assist the municipality but claims that many do not have the required qualifications or experience.
Kruger said he “cannot say that there is service delivery in Ditsobotla. It is basically non-existent.” For some, these woes have proven too much.
Long-time resident Susan Ludick was forced to shut down her businesses in the town due to water and electricity, which left 26 people without jobs.

Lichtenburg Clover factory closed
“Ongoing poor service delivery is the main reason for Clover’s decision to move its cheese production from Lichtenburg to Queensburgh, Durban,” the company said in 2021.
“The Lichtenburg factory has been experiencing water and power outages for years, and the municipality has not maintained the surrounding infrastructure.”
“Despite numerous efforts to engage the municipality on these matters, the issues have not been resolved,” they added.
Businesses across the town also said they struggle to employ skilled talent, as very few people want to move to Lichtenburg, given its water, electricity, sanitation and other service delivery issues.

Action needed
Interviewees across the board said that drastic and urgent is needed to address service delivery failures in the town.
Not only does the economy of the town that contributes greatly to the country as a whole depend on it, but the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families.
“I cannot go anywhere. I have to support my kids and mother, and at my age, no one is hiring. But things are so hard living here, which is so sad because I came here looking for my first job,” said Naledi.
BusinessTech reached out to the Ditsobotla Local Municipality for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. The comments will be added if and when received.
Other images from around Lichtenburg










