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SAHRC recommends government take over Water and Sanitation Department in Tshwane

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The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has recommended that national government take over the Water and Sanitation Department of the City of Tshwane. It has also recommended that previous and current management at the council be held accountable for the contamination of Hammanskraal’s water.

Previous reports alleged that after the City of Tshwane closed the overflowing Rooival sewage plant, sewage sleds started spilling into the river which is supplying the Hammanskraal water treatment plant.

Hammanskraal residents have welcomed the South African Human Rights Commission report, which was released at Sebothoma community Hall at Temba north of Pretoria, on Tuesday. However, some residents doubt it will bring about any change. They say they had water problems since 2004, and are still using contaminated water.

“Am not happy, because we’ve been coming here for this sittings, and then we’ve been given the same report. I still remember around 2018, they come and gave us the same report. My concern is that you give us findings and then you expect us the community to go and act on those findings,” laments one community member.

“We welcome the report. However, we are more skeptical of how we are going to tackle it as they have outlined that people must be persuaded. We’ve already opened cases against the people who have presided over this dilapidated infrastructure.”

The leader of the Hammanskraal Residents Forum, Tumelo Koiting, has welcomed the report and its recommendations.

He says they will continue monitoring all phases of the upgrading of the Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant.

“We are not going to court. First, we are going to study the whole report. From our side, there is no need to go to court now because the city has started to respond after we have engaged the Human Rights Commission to a point that the first phase of the upgrade of the Rooiwal is in progress. So, what is key is for us to monitor is that all the phases are done.”

Member of the Tshwane Mayoral committee Philip Nel, responsible for water and sanitation, questioned the timing of the release of the report.

“The recommendations are the things that I question, because they already suggesting now about centralisation, and we must get the central government to take over and run all the water and sanitation works. We don’t even know as we speak here who will be the political administration at that time, and that brings me back to my criticism just about the timing of the report, and I am sure this is intended to provide some discredit to Tshwane.”

The provincial head of the SAHRC in Gauteng, Buang Jones, says the commission’s recommendations are binding. He says the parties were given 60 days to respond to the report.

“The national government and Department of Water in particular to establish a national water care entity. This will remove the responsibility of water and sanitation from municipalities, who have over the years failed to run water and sanitation services at the municipal level. City managers in the City of Tshwane should be held criminally responsible.”

The SAHRC wants Tshwane’s water crisis to be declared a national disaster.

LGE 2021 | SA TODAY | Special focus on Hammanskraal’s water crisis: 

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