Community leaders in Hammanskraal are urging the Presidency to intervene in the Hammanskraal water crisis. This is after the Tshwane Metro indicated that it would require more funding to complete the refurbishment of the Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant.
The plant has been dysfunctional for some time.
Johannah Machika has been living in Lepheng Village at Hammanskraal for almost four decades. She is among those grappling with an acute water crisis that has been going on for 14 years.
“Our tap water stinks and has a reddish colour like rust. You’d get a running stomach when you drink the water, even water provision by tankers is erratic and I’m too old and unable to lift up these water buckets.”
Another resident, Annah Mongaki says, “Water from our taps foam up and is yellow in colour. We run after water tankers with our buckets while we’re old and have bad legs.”
Community leaders have called on the Presidency to intervene. “It’s been over a decade, I think right now, the office of the president should intervene in this matter. The Water Affairs should also assist the city,” says community leader Mogomotsi Kekana.
Tshwane Metro says progress in phase one of rehabilitating the Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant is at 58% and they will seek more funding from the Water and Sanitation Department to complete the project.
“Phase one, we have invested R300 million, we expect that phase two will cost about R2 billion and we are working towards raising those funds,” says spokesperson Sipho Stuurman.
For now, the helpless residents will have to endure a chronic water supply problem.
Action SA media briefing on water crisis in Hammanskraal:
