The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), the City of Tshwane (CoT) metropolitan municipality and the Magalies Water Board are advancing the long-awaited Magalies Klipdrift Water Treatment Plant project, which will bring safe, potable water to Hammanskraal.

After a delay caused by unforeseen hard-rock ground conditions, electricity supply disruptions and malfunctioning pumps, the parties have completed the first phase of the four-module project, supplying at least 12.5 Mℓ/d of treated water to various areas in Hammanskraal, including Mandela Village, Marokolong, Ramotse, Kekana Gardens and Babelegi Industrial, located within wards 49, 73, 74 and 75.

The initial timeframe was for piped clean drinking water from the first module to start flowing to the Phase 1 areas of Hammanskraal by the end of October 2024.

In a statement on January 9, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) noted that Hammanskraal became the epicentre of a cholera outbreak in May 2023. However, the commission had been receiving complaints relating to the wastewater treatment works (WWTWs), particularly the Rooiwal, Temba and Baviaanspoort WWTWs, since 2018.

This prompted the commission to launch an investigation in 2021, with the subsequent ‘Report of the Gauteng Provincial Inquiry into the Sewage Pollution of the City of Tshwane’s Rivers and the Roodeplaat Dam’ finding that the primary reason for the unacceptable levels of pollution is failure to manage and maintain existing WWTWs in the CoT over an extended period.

The report found that there was insufficient budget allocation, frequent change in municipal managers, poor planning and management and a paucity of the necessary skilled human resources to undertake maintenance all contributed to the malfunction and inadequate state of repair of WWTWs, the SAHRC said.

Following the cholera outbreak, several interventions were made, including the ongoing rehabilitation and upgrading of the Rooiwal WWTW, which is managed by the CoT, to address the sewage pollution in the Apies river. This pollution impacts the ability of the city’s downstream water treatment works to supply Hammanskraal with water that meets drinking-water standards.

As an interim measure while Rooiwal is being repaired and upgraded, the DWS, the CoT and Magalies Water are constructing a R750-million portable water treatment plant, called a ‘package plant’, to enable additional water treatment capacity at the Magalies water treatment works at Klipdrift near Hammanskraal, the DWS, the CoT, Magalies Water Board and the Office of the Premier said in a joint statement released in late December.

The package plant is being installed in four phases. Once completed, it will provide 50-million litres of treated water to Hammanskraal.

Following the completion of the first phase of the remedial project, the SAHRC visited Ramotse, Morokolong, Kekana Gardens and Mandela Village on January 9 for inspections and monitoring, confirming that tap water is now available for the residents.

The joint statement, released on December 23, 2024, highlighted that the remaining modules are expected to be completed in March, April and June respectively.

In the meantime, other areas of Hammanskraal will continue to receive clean drinking water through water tankering, with safe, regularly tested water obtained from other Rand Water and Magalies Water pipelines.

According to the parties, all the issues that had constrained progress and caused delays have now been resolved. State-owned electricity utility Eskom has provided an alternative electricity supply line to the Klipdrift plant, Magalies Water has installed replacement pumps and the CoT has completed the flushing of the water reticulation network in the areas of Hammanskraal to be supplied with water from the first module of the package plant.

“While the commission notes the efforts made to provide the residents with clean tap water, the commission implores all relevant stakeholders to make provision in their annual budgets for the maintenance of wastewater treatment systems,” said the SAHRC.

Further, the commission implored all municipalities that have been placed under regulatory surveillance by the DWS, in accordance with the Water Services Act, to take appropriate measures to improve wastewater systems which are in a critical state.

“The commission and the Public Protector South Africa will undertake a joint inspection as both organisations have issued reports relating to the wastewater treatment systems in Tshwane. “The commission will continue to monitor the recommendations of its report.”