The ANC and DA do not see eye to eye over the cholera outbreak that has recently claimed more than 15 people in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.

This after ANC Caucus spokesperson Joel Masilela accused the DA-coalition currently leading the Tshwane metro administration.

“We are concerned, as the ANC, that even the issue of Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant has not been managed effectively by the current administration. This led to dirty and stinking water flowing into rivers and contaminating the water that the people of Hammanskraal consume on a daily basis,” Masilela said.

According to Masilela evidence suggests that the city under the DA and its coalition partners have failed to take the water issue of Hammanskraal seriously. He added that this maybe was one of the factors that led to the outbreak that has seen more than 50 people admitted to Jubilee hospital and some lose their lives.

He explained that the ANC in Tshwane had over several years raised concerns about “the city’s inability to manage the affairs of water in a manner that in the past helped the city to keep its blue drop status”.

“Since 2016 the blue drop status has been taken away from the city on the basis of water management not being above board.”

Masilela called upon the Department of Water and Sanitation to urgently deploy a team and take over the water management in the city. He said the team should ensure that the entire city does not experience even a single loss of life again.

While the ANC calls for an investigation into the metro, the metro decided to investigate.

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Metro mayor Cilliers Bink said tests on water supplied to Temba and Hammanskraal tested negative for cholera and E.coli.

“This present moment, initially it could seem that water from the taps in Themba, from the Tshwane supply, does not contain E.coli,” Brink said.

Yet he called on all residents to treat tap water as not suitable for human consumption.

“Residents in this area must still treat water from the tap not suitable for human consumption as we have warned over several months,” he said.

Brink added water tankers had been deployed in the area. He also issued health warnings on how to sanitise water.

He said the city was doing everything in its power to determine the source of the cholera outbreak and provide support to the Gauteng health department.

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