The City of Tshwane Mayor, Mr Steven Makgalapa, was last week prevented from addressing the community at Mandela Hall in Hammanskraal where he intended to present the results of the water tests in the area.
Speaking at a press briefing at Tshwane House in Pretoria yesterday, the mayor said he was shocked and disgusted to have been met by hostility when he tried to address service delivery issues.
His predecessor, Mr Solly Msimanga, was also given the same treatment during his tenure when he tried to address the community at Sebothoma Hall where he was frog marched from the DA hostile township.
“As part of taking all parties on board, we had informed all the Councilors in the Hammanskraal area of our intention to have a public meeting at Mandela Hall on the 26 March to communicate the test results and generally engage with the residents in the area.
“To our shock and disgust we were met with a rented mob whose intention was to block this important engagement.
“It is my firm view that politics should not be confused with the provision of basic services and normal government business, and it is unfortunate that for over 24 years in government, the ANC still successfully fails to make this simple distinction,” he said.
He challenge the ANC in Hammanskraal to join hands with him in providing basic services to the residents in the area and leave politics to the business of Council.
The Mayor reiterated that after visiting the water treatment centre in Temba he can confirm that the water is safe to drink. “I am satisfied and can confidently say that the water is drinkable and odorless.
He said the City embarked on an independent and credible tests which confirmed compliance after receiving a highly suspicious complaint from the Department of Water and Sanitation and the South African Human Rights Commission regarding the quality of water supplied to the Hammanskraal area.
He also accused Gauteng Premier David Makhura spreading spurious complaints, of a non-existent problem about the quality of water supply to the community.
“The false peddling of information and continued politicking about the quality of the Hammanskraal drinking water is causing unnecessary panic among the residents of Hammanskraal,” he said.
The Mayor said it is for this reason that he instructed that Water samples be collected on 12 March 2019 by an external body. Magalies Water, the city laboratory team and Rietvlei Laboratory collected samples at the very same sampling points for analysis and the results are as follows:
• Microbiological parameters (E-Coli and Faecal Coliform) that are with waterborne and diseases, are 100% compliant in terms of the South African National Drinking Water Standard (SANS 241:2015).
• The following parameters, Turbidity and Ammonia, are non-compliant. However these parameters are aesthetic in nature, meaning they do not pose any health risk but rather related to the appearance, odour and taste of the water.
Mayor Magalapa said the overall compliance as determined by Magalies Water is at 94.79% complaint.
“These results, showing that the water supplied by the City of Tshwane in the Hammanskraal area is fit for human consumption, contradicting the reckless and irresponsible statement made by Premier Makhura,” he said.
He further accused the ANC of making the water matter a national campaign using State Institutions for party political gains.
“It must be reiterated that the complaints were based primarily on Color, taste and odour, mitigating against these parameters in the short term we have dosed the water with powdered activated carbon (PAC). The impact of this intervention is reduction in colour, taste and odour of the water.”
He said the construction of the new plant was completed at the end of January 2019, where after testing of the new equipment commenced. The testing should be completed at the end of March 2019(60 days testing as per the requirements)
He further claimed that the National Department of Water has known since 2011 that the water that goes into Apies River is contaminated.
“It was for this reason that the City introduced all these interventions to mitigate against these problems the ANC has known for years,” he said.
At the time of going to press, the office of Premier Makhura had not responded.
