Tshwane service delivery failures laid bare

Reservoir project stalls after contractor ’s dismissal

As leading political parties in Tshwane decide who should be the next mayor, reports tabled in council last week have laid bare some of the city’s service delivery failures.

A reservoir project in Refilwe near Cullinan, east of Pretoria, was completed two years ago but it has not been functional after a contractor was dismissed by the city. 

This was contained in the city’s report which was tabled on Thursday in a special council meeting that led to the removal of mayor Cilliers Brink through the vote of no confidence by the ANC and ActionSA. The parties accused Brink of neglecting service delivery in the townships. 

The reports said the Refilwe Extension 7 project was meant to connect 788 stands to water but the project was far from complete. Despite substantial investments, only 2,391m of the planned 7,788m of water pipeline have been installed. It said only 100 of the 788 stands had been connected to water.

The documents further said only 2,788m of the required 9,900m had been laid for the sewer system with just 140 stands connected.

The committee attributed the delays to the contractor abandoning the project and severe under-expenditure of the Urban Settlement Development Grant.

Resident Rosina Mokwana, 40, said since the establishment of Ext 7 in 2014, they have had no water.

“The reservoir is there but we don’t get water at all except from the trucks that bring in the water. They come every day at different times but you can’t trust the water from the trucks because sometimes it’s dirty. So we don’t use it to drink and instead, we buy drinking water from the shops,” said Mokwana.

She said it costs R15 to buy five bottles of 5l every week.

Another resident from the extention, who wanted to remain anonymous, said they’ve never been told the real reasons behind the lack of water.

“ At some point, they even told us that the reservoir was completely broken, yet we see it with our eyes every day. The reservoir is up there for decoration because for years we relied on tankers and Jojo tanks, none of which are clean. And it’s not nice to know that the other side of Refilwe has water,” the resident said.

City of Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo confirmed that the contractor had been dismissed.

“The city is currently busy with the procurement process for the appointment of a new contractor to complete the water and sewer connections at Refilwe Extension 7,” he said.

The reports also highlighted challenges with the rental units at Ou Stalshoogte and Nuwe Stalshoogte, which are at risk of vandalism.

During an inspection, the committee on human settlements found that the buildings suffer from a range of problems, including blocked sewer systems, persistent water leaks, crumbling ablution facilities, broken windows and wet walls, which caused the paint to fade.

“The buildings are in a poor state of repair and not conducive to human habitation. The current condition of both rental properties will trigger a culture of non-payment and illegal occupation. There are no security services to ensure the safety of tenants.

“Urgent intervention is required; failure to address this will make the collection of revenue extremely difficult, or tenants will withhold the much-needed revenue until repairs and maintenance are completed to their satisfaction,” said the city’s committee.

The committee also noted that the lack of security in these areas had created a dangerous environment for tenants and contributed to rising maintenance costs and as a result, the units are continually subject to damage.

Tenants have also threatened to withhold rent payments, arguing that they cannot be expected to pay while living in hazardous conditions.

The oversight committee expressed concerns that these issues have been ongoing for years with little being done to rectify the situation.

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