Tshwane no show for HRC Hammanskraal visit
"They made the same excuse even when we invited them to a community meeting."
The SA Humans Rights Commission visited Hammanskraal on Thursday, to gauge the progress made by the Tshwane metro in addressing water quality concerns in the area.
Hammanskraal residents first raised concerns about the taste, colour and odour of the local potable water with the commission in July 2018.
Last month, the CSIR confirmed that water consumed by the residents was not suitable for human consumption.
CSIR senior researcher and water scientist Wouter le Roux said 144 samples were tested.
“All we can say is that there are certain illnesses associated with drinking that water. We did advocate using something like bleach for water chlorination to at least kill the germs in the water,” he said.
Human rights commission head of legal services Buang Jones said metro officials “always claim to be in a meeting”.
“This has been been the same excuse even when we convened the community meeting,” he said.
“The city informed us that they had a council meeting. This is a flagrant disregard of the chapter 9 institution and the city should co-operate.”
Hammanskraal residents organisation chairperson Tumelo Koitheng said residents also complained about “exorbitant” water bills.
READ MORE: Hammanskraal residents face water cuts due to maintenance work
“Initially Magalies was the water supplier to residents before it was handed over to the metro,” said Koitheng.
“When that process was done, the data migration was flawed and a lot of exorbitant bills were taken from Magalies to the metro. As we speak, there are a lot of high bills that residents are faced with.”
Koitheng said that there were inconsistencies and errors in the water billing.
“The residents have been complaining that we have been billed by the city using estimates. You will find this month you are charged R30 000 and the following month it is a hundred and something thousand and the other month it is R5 000.”
Koitheng said some of the water meters were not readable because one could not see the numbers, but that residents were still charged.
“There are also cases where there are two accounts [numbers] for the same stand and account holder,” he said.
Koitheng said the city had provided water tankers, which residents relied on for potable water.
“We use tap water for household chores and sanitation.”
READ MORE: Pretoria residents urged to save water
MMC for utility services Abel Tau said he can put it on record that “we were not invited for the visit to Reefentse(Stinkwater)”.
MMC for Finance Mare-Lise Fourie said residents who have problems with their accounts should visit the closest walk-in centres or call 012 358 9999.
When asked about the residents’ bills fluctuating, Fourie said: “I can not comment on such general allegations.”
“I am however aware that consumers have stopped paying their municipal accounts because of the water issues. This is unfortunate because property rates and other services are not impacted by water quality complaints.”
Fourie said they are analyzing the current debt and will make proposals to Council on how to deal with water debt.
“The obligation to pay for the other services remains and consumers are urged to pay their accounts or to make arrangements,” she said
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