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Rand Water: Urgent turnaround strategy needed for residents to access water unhindered

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is demanding that Rand Water urgently put a turnaround strategy in place to address the constant failure of their infrastructure.

Our residents in many parts of the province are once again left without any water due to a power failure at Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch purification plant. This negatively impacts pumping at the following pumping stations:

  • Zwartkopjes by 75%: supplies water to Midrand and Tshwane areas
  • Eikenhof by 20%: supplies water to the South of Johannesburg, including Crosby, Hursthill and the Commando system.
  • Palmietfontein by 20%: supplies water to the East and North East of the province (Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Ekurhuleni).
  • Mapleton by 20%: supplies water to Midrand and Tshwane areas

This trend is now deeply worrying as Zuikerbosch is Rand Water’s biggest plant and is responsible for more than 60% of the water from Rand Water.

Technicians have been dispatched to attend to the problem.

It is high time that Rand Water comes clean and informs the residents what they are going to do to fix, maintain and refurbish their electrical infrastructure, as it is severely impacting residents across the province.

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GBV victims suffer due to shortage of VEF in Gauteng

There is a severe shortage of victim empowerment facilities (VEFs) in Gauteng, while gender-based violence (GBV) runs rife in communities across the province.

Most of our VEFs are not adequately equipped with much-needed resources to support the victims of GBV.

Of the 143 police stations across the province, most of their VEFs are not victim-friendly. They do not have the necessary staff and resources, including rape test kits, beds, specific rooms to engage with the victims in a private space and social workers. The police officers are also not adequately trained to deal with the issues of GBV.

The DA, therefore, tabled a motion on gender-based violence in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL), demanding that the Gauteng Provincial Government must increase the number of VEF and ensure that they are well-equipped and accessible to the victims.

Below are the speeches delivered during today’s Gender-Based Violence (GBV) motion debate in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL):

Gauteng Department of Social Development:

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Gauteng Department of Social Development:

DA_Bronwynn_Engelbrecht_GBV_DEBATE_SPEECH_2023

Department of Community Safety:

DA_Nico_De_Jager_GBV_DEBATE_SPEECH_2023

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Parts of Johannesburg are still without water due to long repair times

Gauteng residents living in parts of Johannesburg have been struggling for days to access water. This is because of the burst that occurred at the Rand Water Palmietfontein pipeline.

After the restoration of the bursts, water was flowing at a limited capacity as a result of airlocks in the system, and the flow of water has been restricted. Joburg Water is currently bleeding the system to get rid of the airlocks in the pipes and will return to pumping later today.

This has had an impact on the following reservoirs: Jeppe, South Hills and Alexander Park reservoir.

We have already engaged with Joburg Water on this matter. Joburg Water has indicated that the repairs are complete, but it is taking time for the Alexander Parks reservoir to fill up but not at the pressure required to meet the demand.

See video here.

Due to the long time it has taken to repair the Palmietfontein line it is affecting how quickly the reservoirs fill up and loadshedding does not help the situation.

Residents are urged to adhere to the current water restrictions that are in place and to use water sparingly. When this system is disrupted for extended periods of time, it takes a few days before our reservoirs reach full capacity and for there to be enough pressure for water to reach all our residents.

The DA will submit questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature regarding the problems we are currently experiencing with Rand Water in the province.

We once again demand that an inter-governmental task team be set up to deal with this province’s water and electricity crisis.

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Rand Water’s failure to secure its infrastructure leaves residents without water

The lack of proactive maintenance and securing of Rand Water’s infrastructure across the province has resulted in many residents without access to a reliable supply of water.

Today, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng conducted an oversight inspection of the Rand Water pipeline in Primrose, Ekurhuleni. We were dismayed to discover that the Rand Water infrastructure is not properly secured which meant that Rand Water is not doing regular site visits on its infrastructure and also not proactively maintaining infrastructure.

See pictures here, here, here and here.

We found that the water chambers are left open with easy access for vandals to tamper and vandalize infrastructure.

The bursts since last Thursday left residents of Primrose and surrounding areas, Malvern, Bezuidenhout Valley, Klipfontein View, Alexandra and Yeoville without access to water as the system is battling to recover due to demand being higher than the capacity to pump water to reservoirs.

The longer repairs take the longer residents are without water. This means low pressure to no water for higher lying areas as reservoirs take longer to recover.

In addition, the lack of security at the Rand Water site is very worrying as it also poses a danger to our residents, particularly children who may play around the infrastructure.

See video here.

There is an urgent need for a plan to be put in place to secure all our critical infrastructure from vandalism and tampering.

We once again urge all our residents to use water sparingly, report leaks and allow the systems to properly recover as it may take a few days before water levels are back to normal.

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Gauteng Government’s under-expenditure on infrastructure budget puts service delivery at risk

The Gauteng Provincial Government’s (GPG) under-expenditure on its infrastructure budget by various departments is having a severe impact on the growth of the province’s economy which is meant to help to uplift the livelihoods of the residents.

Slow spending on the department’s infrastructure budgets and constant poor performance records will hinder the progress of the GPG towards its action plan of Growing Gauteng Together (GGT2030) which is meant to improve the lives of the residents.

This information was revealed in the Gauteng Provincial legislature’s (GPL) Finance portfolio committee meeting during the deliberations of the Gauteng Provincial Treasury second quarter report for the 2022/23 financial year.

According to the report, the following departments are the worst offenders in terms of underspending in their infrastructure budgets:

•     Health – they underspent on the construction of new clinics, citing the following reasons as an excuse for expenditure; statutory planning approvals not obtained before commencement of developments that includes site issues, incorrect zoning, land too small or not suitable and poor performance of contractors who received the contract.
•     Social Development – this department also cited the sluggish performance of contractors, and the slow spending suggests that the budget be adjusted downwards.
•     Human Settlements – misalignment between planned and delivered units could be due to a lack of bulk infrastructure (bulk electricity and sewer). Rama, Westonaria BORWA and Montrose are typical examples.
•     Roads and Transport – the main reason for low infrastructure spending is due to procurement processes for example upgrades of road K56 (William Nicol) between K46 + P79/1 and K54 (Tsamaya road in Mamelodi). This slow spending resulted in the department considering adjusting its main infrastructure budget downwards by R337 million (main budget R2,095 billion).
•     Agriculture and Rural Development – this department is also considering adjusting the budget downwards with R2,5 million.
•     Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation – this department only managed to spend 3% of its infrastructure budget halfway through the financial year. This poor performance also suggests that the infrastructure budget be reduced from R40,4 million to R26,5 million.
•     Infrastructure Development and Property Development – a review suggests a budget adjustment downwards by R26 million (main budget R139 million). Challenges with Occupational Health and Safety and refurbishment on buildings where contracts have been awarded (Thusanong/SA Perm).

This trend of under-expenditure on the infrastructure budget is unacceptable considering the current economic crisis and the increasing unemployment rates. Infrastructure delivery is one of the most significant contributors to provincial economic growth, by boosting investment and stimulating job creation, productivity, and competitiveness.

The DA proposes that Gauteng departments must start investing in the preparation of infrastructure projects so that they have a pipeline of shovel-ready projects. This might easily be the single most important reason why departments fail to spend their infrastructure budgets.

The DA has already engaged the Gauteng MEC for Gauteng Provincial Treasury, Jacob Mamabolo, to closely monitor the spending patterns of departments, especially infrastructure spending. This will ensure that departments avoid underspending, which would lead to the departments surrendering unspent funds, negatively impacting service delivery.

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#GautengWaterCrisis: DA engages with SAHRC over water complaint

Today, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng had a fruitful engagement with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) regarding the complaint we lodged with them over the current water crisis.

When stage six loadshedding was implemented towards the end of September, our water reservoirs were unable to fill up sufficiently to supply residents with clean water.

Since then, the situation has worsened and has prompted the DA to embark on a series of oversight inspections of water reservoirs in the province to assess the situation.

The Gauteng population is increasing on a daily basis, yet the daily capacity of Rand Water remains constant because the infrastructure remains the same.

This has a negative impact on the supply of water and the increased demand means that more pressure is being put on the water infrastructure which has also not been maintained properly.

During our meeting with the Provincial Commissioner for the SAHRC, Zamantungwa Mbeki we once again highlighted the need for an intergovernmental task team to be established to look into the supply of water to our residents.

Our municipalities need assistance from National Government concerning resources to keep up with the current water demand and the increase in population in the province. It is not fair that municipalities are expected to continue supplying water without an increase in project specific budgets.

In addition to this Rand Water has not been maintaining its electrical infrastructure which is also impacting its ability to supply water to Gauteng residents.

Furthermore, the DA is urging our residents to continue to use water sparingly and to adhere to the water restrictions that have been put in place by municipalities.

The DA will be keeping a close eye on the progress of our complaint. We are hopeful that with the intervention of the SAHRC, the government will establish an intergovernmental task team to look into ways of ensuring that all residents have access to water on a daily basis.

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GDID fails to meet job creation targets, while unemployment rate continues to increase

The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development and Property Management (GDID) is constantly failing our residents by not meeting the job creation targets set and failing to complete much-needed infrastructure projects, while the unemployment rate continues to rise.

Every year, GDID commits to creating thousands of employment opportunities for our unemployed residents, yet they fail to deliver.

For the second quarter of the 2022/2023 financial year, GDID set a target of creating 10 642 employment opportunities but only created 3 640 as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).

This is very concerning, as the construction industry is a key driver of employment opportunities and is pivotal to ensuring that our economy grows.

While the EPWP programme only provides temporary employment however it provides critical skills that are needed to find long-term employment, which assists in alleviating poverty.

In addition, more needs to be done to assist SMMEs in training areas of finance, completing tender documents and general administration.

The DA will directly engage with the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development and Property Management MEC, Lebogang Maile, to ascertain what measures is his department putting in place to ensure that they met all EPWP targets and complete the infrastructure projects within the stipulated timelines.

Furthermore, the DA is demanding that MEC Maile urgently outline plans to ensure that there are no delays in awarding of tenders. The department must also outline clearly how they will ensure that SMMEs are paid within seven days of receiving invoices.

Not only does this have a negative impact on the employment opportunities that can be created but also disadvantages our residents who are in dire need of public facilities.

The people of Gauteng deserve a government that is committed to creating employment opportunities, growing the economy, and making sure that there are sufficient public facilities like schools, clinics and hospitals.

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DA to lodge a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission over water crisis in Gauteng

Tomorrow, Monday, 31 October 2022, the Official Leader of the Opposition in Gauteng, Solly Msimanga MPL, and the DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Infrastructure Development, Nico De Jager MPL, will be laying a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in Braamfontein regarding the current water crisis in the province.

For many weeks our residents have been left with limited access to water and electricity. Rand Water has been calling on our residents to use water sparingly, yet during our recent oversight inspection of the pumping station and water reservoir in Eikenhof, we discovered that there is a water leak right outside their premises.

This is concerning as our residents are forced to collect water from water tankers which has already resulted in a 13-year-old boy being admitted to the hospital in critical condition after he was knocked over by a car while collecting water in Coronationville.

Access to water is a basic human right and this right is currently being infringed on by Rand Water which is throttling supply to various reservoirs and pumping stations in the province. This right should not become dangerous, and our residents pay for a service that they expect to be delivered without interruption.

The media is invited and there will be an opportunity for interviews and photographs

Details of the event are as follows:

Date: 31 October 2022

Time: 11:00

Address: 27 Stiemens St, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001

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DA to lodge a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission over water crisis in Gauteng

On Monday, 31 October 2022, the Official Leader of the Opposition in Gauteng, Solly Msimanga MPL, and the DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Infrastructure Development, Nico De Jager MPL, will be laying a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in Braamfontein regarding the current water crisis in the province.

For many weeks our residents have been left with limited access to water and electricity. Rand Water has been calling on our residents to use water sparingly, yet during our recent oversight inspection of the pumping station and water reservoir in Eikenhof, we discovered that there is a water leak right outside their premises.

This is concerning as our residents are forced to collect water from water tankers which has already resulted in a 13-year-old boy being admitted to the hospital in critical condition after he was knocked over by a car while collecting water in Coronationville.

Access to water is a basic human right and this right is currently being infringed on by Rand Water which is throttling supply to various reservoirs and pumping stations in the province. This right should not become dangerous, and our residents pay for a service that they expect to be delivered without interruption.

The media is invited and there will be an opportunity for interviews and photographs

Details of the event are as follows:

Date: 31 October 2022

Time: 11:00

Address: 27 Stiemens St, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001

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WesBank contract model causing undue delays in Gauteng SAPS vehicle repairs

The delivery of police services has been severely affected due to a lack of adequate police vehicles to provide necessary visible policing due to the contract entered by the National Treasury and WesBank, which has resulted in a complicated vehicle repairs model.

The National Treasury entered a contract with Wesbank on behalf of the South African Police Service (SAPS) for the maintenance and repairs of most SAPS vehicles. Wesbank took the responsibility of vehicle maintenance and repairs away from the SAPS garages.

This has created backlogs for simple repairs of up to 500 days in some cases. This not only puts the safety of the residents at risk but adds to the frustration and staff morale of the police officers to conduct visible policing and detective services.

According to some police stations, the WesBank contract allows for 30 days to access a breakdown and three months to appoint a service provider to fix the vehicle that must then still be assessed afterwards. This means that the police vehicles will be out of commission for months on end, and in some cases, tyres and wheels are stolen from parked vehicles even before work can be done on police vehicles.

In addition, 24 mechanic artisan posts have been vacant at the SAPS garages since 2016 that could have been used to repair the broken police vehicles.

This was revealed by the Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Faith Mazibuko, in a written reply to the DA’s questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).

According to MEC Mazibuko, there are 16 SAPS garages in Gauteng, 205 mechanics in all the garages and 24 mechanic artisan posts that have been vacant since 2016.

It is unacceptable that the vacant mechanic posts have not been filled for almost six years. This has also resulted in police vehicles that are sent for repairs being kept at these garages for a long time due to a lack of an adequate number of mechanics to fix them. There is also too much workload for these mechanics due to unfilled vacancies.

This is greatly impacting the ability of police officers to provide visible policing to protect residents and prevent crime as vehicles sent for repairs are not returned to their respective police stations timeously.

This is quite harrowing considering that many mechanic graduates are sitting at home unemployed, yet the SAPS is sitting with 24 vacancies that can help change and better the lives of our people.

We believe the Department of Community Safety must review its contract with WesBank as it may be the main reason for the backlog in vehicle maintenance and repairs.

The safety of Gauteng residents is of utmost importance for the DA hence we demand that MEC Mazibuko and the Gauteng SAPS Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, must liaise with their national counterpart Minister of Police, Bheki Cele to ensure that these mechanic posts are filled as a matter of urgency. Shortage of police vehicles is a major challenge affecting many of our police stations.

This is one of many reasons why Minister Bheki Cele must go, he continues to fail our people due to his incompetency. The DA will continue to use all the mechanisms at our disposal in all spheres of government to force the President to fire Minister Cele as he is compromising the safety of our people and a danger to society.