LISTEN | President apologises amid cholera outbreak, but some Hammanskraal residents are disappointed

President Cyril Ramaphosa has apologised to the residents of Hammanskraal for government's failure to deliver clean running water.

Addressing hundreds of residents gathering at Temba Stadium on Thursday, Ramaphosa assured residents that government would solve the problem immediately.  

Ramaphosa was accompanied by a number of ministers and deputy ministers, Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi and Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink. 

"It's been a while since you have been complaining about water here. This has been your problem for years and years. I want to apologise to all of you on our collective behalf," Ramaphosa said.

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He said the constitution gave residents the right to have access to clean running water and "in this case, we will admit that we have failed you”.

“We have failed the people of Hammanskraal," he said.  

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, chairperson of the Thusa Setshaba Forum (TSF), reckons the president's visit to the area was just part of his day-to-day work.

"Let us just understand, the president is just a politician, leading an organisation which we love called the ANC. We are disappointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa being here. The issue of addressing water we are saying please anything to do with water rights, anything to do with water issues. Let us have all the necessary expertise and move with urgency to address that," said Molati.  

Tshepo Mosimanegape, 40, said the issue of water was long overdue and he could afford to live without electricity but not without 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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