Cholera crisis | Billions to fix Hammanskraal water infrastructure

HAMMANSKRAAL - It will cost about R2.5-billion to fix the Hammanskraal water infrastructure according to Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink, who's blamed the deteriorating infrastructure of the township on previous administrations led by the ANC.

Brink says if upgrades had been done sooner, Hammanskraal wouldn't be experiencing water woes.

He says the city doesn't have enough budget and is willing to partner with national government to resolve the crisis.

Brink said, "this crisis and tragedy has cast the light, again once more, on the fact the successive administrations in the city of Tshwane have failed the people of Hammanskraal. The essence of the problem is that the Rooival Wastewater Treatment Plant is biologically and hydraulically overloaded. It has been out of capacity since about 2005."

"If the upgrades had been back in 2000s when it was still affordable, perhaps we wouldn’t be sitting with this problem but every year.The second phase of upgrades or Roiwaal is gonna cost about R2.5B which is the entirety of the capital budget of the city, clearly we can’t find this in timeframe that is quick enough to restore the quality of water to the people of Hammanskraal, we have to take hands...I look foward to my meeting with the minister."