The DA in Thembisile Hani will urgently escalate the water crisis to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
It has been a year since the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) found that the municipality together with the Department of Water and Sanitation violated residents’ rights to basic water supply.
The commission went on to order the municipality to submit a revised, council-approved plan for addressing the water access challenges within its jurisdiction.
The municipality was also ordered to work with the department and jointly reconsider the Loskop Dam Bulk Project. The municipality was also required to submit a report on the efficacy of its borehole projects.
Despite this ruling, the DA has now established that the municipality has not done much to address its water challenges. Following various oversight visits, this is what we have discovered.
- A borehole treatment plant in Moloto which has not been working for the whole year due to a lack of chemicals.
- The Moses River water project which was estimated to produce 5 ml a day to service the entire Kwaggafontein, Mathysynsloop, Boekenhouthoek and Matsipe is not producing the projected amount of water. Instead, it generates 2 to 3ml a day and these only services only 2 wards.
- Pressure pumps that are supposed to push water to households situated in high-lying areas are not connected to electricity which opens a gap for water tankers to supply water.
- Water tankers that belong to the municipality are not working due to expired license discs, worn-out tires, and mechanical breakdown. This has seen the municipality outsource water tankers at an outrageous fee.
We have also found that the municipality is no longer able to provide water to the five wards that were previously supplied with uninterrupted water.
The DA finds it disturbing that the municipality is still failing to take accountability for its residents. For years, Thembisile Hani has been reluctant to deal with the water crisis and has shifted the blame to the City of Tshwane and Rand Water.
The municipality’s unwillingness to find a sustainable solution to this challenge has enriched a lot of ANC cadres through short-term tender schemes.
Our COGTA spokesperson, Trudie Grove Morgan, will write a letter to the department’s MEC, Mandla Msibi, asking for his intervention on the matter.
The DA will continue to fight for service delivery and expose the ANC’s discourteousness, which has greatly inconvenienced residents of this municipality.