Note to editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Leanne De Jager MPL.
The City of Tshwane, along with the Gauteng Department of Environment, has shown that they care little about the well-being of residents who depend on the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works (RWWTW) is in a catastrophic state and has poisoned the water supply to Hammanskraal and contributed to a cholera outbreak that has cost many lives.
The horrible condition of RWWTW has major negative impacts on the health, food security, and jobs of Gauteng residents.
This information was revealed during a recent presentation to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s (GPL) Environment Portfolio Committee. It was further revealed that Rooiwal is running at 140% of its hydraulic design capacity and 170% of its organic design load.
See the full presentation here.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng demands that the MEC for Environment, Ewan Botha, immediately act and find a long-lasting solution to this problem.
Rooiwal discharges effluent directly into the Apies River, which feeds the Leeukraal Dam, a river and dam system so polluted that, on the department’s own admission, Temba Water Treatment Works cannot treat the water it draws from it to safe drinking standards.
What makes this even more unacceptable is the pattern of governance failure behind it. The City of Tshwane’s reports indicate that its first contractor was terminated due to contractual disputes while the project was 60% complete, and the case is now under investigation by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
The City has committed more than R627 million across six separate Phase 1A and 1B contracts, with at least one of the contracts already running on delay damages after three separate extensions of time. Millions more sit unspent against a 2026/27 maintenance budget that is short by R15.4 million.
The department has listed criminal cases relating to pollution for Sunderland Ridge, Baviaanspoort, Klipgat, Zeekoegat in its accountability table. However, even though it identifies Rooiwal as the facility needing the most urgent intervention, the department has no record of a corresponding criminal case or case number for this facility in its accountability table. This discrepancy needs to be addressed.
This is not a story of insufficient information. It is a story of appointing contractor after contractor, spending hundreds of millions of rand, and still failing to hold anyone accountable. While residents drink unsafe water, farmers lose their livelihoods, and the environment is suffering disastrously. This is a direct failure of Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government.
A DA government would enforce a mandatory 48-hour response protocol for any water-quality or pollution hazard of this magnitude, with public reporting from day one, and ensure criminal referrals are opened and pursued for every polluting facility without exception.
Gauteng residents and farmers have paid the price for a decade of state failure. The DA will continue to demand full transparency, full accountability, and a credible, funded plan to fix Rooiwal.