Note to Editors: Please find English and Afrikaans soundbites by Ald Cilliers Brink here and here
Following news that the project to deliver clean tap water to the people of Hammanskraal will be delayed, the Democratic Alliance (DA) is worried that there is no leadership on the issue from Tshwane’s new coalition government.
During my tenure as mayor of Tshwane, the City took hands with national government to solve the Hammanskraal water crisis after years of failure and finger-pointing.
Senzo Mchunu, then Minister of Water and Sanitation, and I led the City and the Department of Water and Sanitation to restore people’s trust in government.
While the City is upgrading Rooiwal waste water treatment plant to stop the pollution of the Apies River, national government is helping to deliver a more immediate solution.
Magalies Water is building a modular treatment plant on the less polluted Pienaars River, which will then become the city’s bulk supplier of potable tap water to areas currently dependent on water tankers.
The first phase of the Magalies Water package plant was meant to come online at the end of October, and it is worrying that the project will be delayed.
If this delay will have a knock-on effect on the three other phases of the project, the City of Tshwane must communicate this upfront to Hammanskraal residents. This task cannot be abdicated to Magalies Water.
Prior to my removal from office, I issued a detailed memorandum to the city manager Johann Mettler and the then deputy mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya on how various risks to the Hammanskraal water project are to be managed.
If the Magalies Water package plant is completed, the City will save about R60 million in water tanker fees currently deployed to Hammanskraal. There are significant business interests who would not want this to happen.
Once the package plant is operational, the City will have to pay Magalies Water for the bulk supply of water, which means that Hammanskraal consumers will have to pay the City beyond the basket of free basic services offered to indigent consumers.
The only realistic way of achieving this if there is a write off of historical water debt to Hammanskraal residents. A report with recommendations to this effect must be brought to the municipal council as soon as possible.
While Dr Moya has since switched her allegiance to an ANC-EFF coalition, and become the mayor, it is important that she sticks to the plan devised by the government which she previously served.