Report on state of Tshwane water infrastructure, rivers delayed

Tshwane residents will have to wait before the release of the SA Human Rights Commission’s report on the state of water-related infrastructure and rivers. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)

Tshwane residents will have to wait before the release of the SA Human Rights Commission’s report on the state of water-related infrastructure and rivers. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Aug 5, 2021

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Pretoria - Residents in Tshwane will have to wait for some time before the release of the SA Human Rights Commission’s report on the state of water-related infrastructure and rivers running through some parts of the municipality.

This follows a public inquiry conducted by the SAHRC in February into the quality of water in Tshwane and its related infrastructure, including the rivers.

Rivers under the spotlight were Apies, Tolwane, Pienaar and Hennops, into which raw sewage flowed from wastewater treatment works.

The inquiry was hosted at Kameeldrift and attended by officials from the Department of Water and Sanitation, Tshwane MMC for utility services and regional operations, Phillip Nel and community representative, Advocate Hendrick van Staden, among other parties.

Yesterday, the commission’s provincial manager Buang Jones told the Pretoria News the report was not ready to go public.

Jones said the commission had so far put together an interim report, which was in the hands of the commissioners “for vetting and adoption”.

“The interim report is with commissioners for final vetting and adoption. Once it is approved, it will be shared with implicated parties for comment,” he said.

He explained that it would be “publicly launched” after it had undergone the approval process and declared final by the commissioners.

Jones’s undertaking to release the report comes as ActionSA plans to release the report of the independent inquiry commissioned by the political party into the state of water in Hammanskraal in April.

The three-day inquiry was chaired by Advocate Jonas Letsoalo, and received inputs from water experts, community leaders, academics, business and community members.

Tshwane mayor Randall Williams, who was invited to take part in the hearing, declined to do so because he believed the occasion to be a “public stunt”.

ActionSA said it would hand over the report to Williams at Tshwane House after releasing it to the public at Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant.

However, the metro’s chief of staff Jordan Griffiths was not in a position to confirm whether Williams would receive the report or not.

The party’s statement further hinted the report contained adverse findings against the municipality.

“Despite the shocking story of the water quality issues reaching their zenith in 2017, the City of Tshwane has consistently let the people of Hammanskraal down by not attending to the matter.

“Indeed, residents of Hammanskraal have been subjected to water that was declared ‘unfit for human consumption’ by the South African Human Rights Commission for over a decade,” the party said.

Jones had also snubbed ActionSA’s inquiry, saying the commission did their own investigation and were preparing to release a comprehensive report.

Pretoria News