Residents doubt premier will help
Makhura promises to solve water issue
Residents in Tshwane who have decried the quality of their drinking water appreciated Gauteng premier David Makhura’s visit yesterday, but were pessimistic about whether it would change anything.
Hammanskraal residents recently took to the streets in protest against dirty water.
Speaking to Sowetan during Makhura’s visit, resident Phomolo Mosetlhe said they have had the problem for nearly 10 years.
He said they had protested and raised their concerns countless times.
“The quality of water has been deteriorating every year, and this time it is worse. I am happy the premier came to inspect the treatment plant, but I will wait and see if anything comes of it,” Mosetlhe said.
His sentiments were echoed by another resident, Thabiso Molobi, who said politicians had a tendency of waiting for a problem to occur, instead of being proactive.
He said he doubted anything would happen after Makhura’s visit, saying even if they did act, it would take a long time before they saw results.
“The situation wouldn’t have gotten this bad if they had intervened earlier.
“Now that there have been protests, they are running around. Is it because the elections are around the corner?” Molobi asked.
Makhura first held a closed meeting with his executive at the local Tshwane municipal offices before his entourage headed to the Rooiwal waste treatment plant, Temba dam, Temba purification plant, as well as the Hammanskraal business process outsourcing park.
Makhura promised to drag Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga to Hammanskraal as early as next week.
He said he saw for himself that residents drank dirty water and he would also bring Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti, as well as a solution to the crisis.
“We will be coming back with a solution. I am also going to bring the mayor, whether he likes it or not … The mayor did not come to you. He held a meeting with a few people in a hall,” he said to a roaring response from the audience.
Makhura was speaking to residents as part of the Ntirhisano community outreach programme in Kanana yesterday.
Makhura also used the event to attack the DA-led City of Tshwane metro.
He said all the programmes that were initiated by the previous ANC administration in Tshwane had come to a screeching halt.
He said it was unacceptable that Hammanskraal residents drank dirty water that made them sick, while residents of Pretoria drank clean water.
“You are also human, you deserve clean drinking water like white people in Pretoria. They [municipality] say the water is alright but we saw for ourselves that this water is dirty.
“The workers [at the waste water treatment plant] told us the municipality is not investing in infrastructure. We came here and we saw for ourselves,” the premier said.
According to Ntirhisano’s Hammanskraal community profile, access to piped water is at 82.9% of the population, while 14.2% received their water supply from water tankers.
Ntirhisano is a collaborative programme aimed at improving the government’s service delivery capacity.