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He said even though the source of cholera was yet to be established‚ it was a fact that residents did not have clean running water.
“When I arrived in the morning we went to the Rooiwal water treatment plant. I wanted them to do the preliminary work before we arrived there so that what we are going to tell you should be something you can know is going to be done‚” he said.
He said the problem starts at the Rooiwal treatment plant, which was built in the 1950s, and it should be fixed. He said it was found that the plant had not been maintained up to the right standard for quite a long time.
He said the City of Tshwane was going to make sure that clean water was available through tanks. He told residents that the next stage would be to hire Magalies Water to build a slightly smaller water treatment plant because revamping Rooiwal would take three years. He said the smaller treatment plant would be built in six months.
One of the residents‚ Tidimatso Molati‚ chair of the Thusa Setshaba Forum (TSF)‚ said the president’s visit to the area was just part of his day-to-day work. The government should rather send water experts, he said.
Tshepo Mosimanegape said the issue of water was long overdue and he could afford to live without electricity but not water.
“Imagine we are getting bottled water from Gift of the Givers‚ this is a serious injustice to the people of Hammanskraal‚” he said.
He added the president apologising when there was no tangible change with ageing infrastructure was just a waste of another opportunity.
“I can come as the head of state and say‚ ‘people of this community I am very sorry for the lack of water’‚ but what are you doing on the ground. That is a critical question which we should be asking.
“You can apologise until the sun is purple‚ but what are you doing thereafter to remedy the situation? That is the critical thing we should ask here as residents of Hammanskraal‚” he said.
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