Tshwane Metro Fails to Supply Enough Water to Rooiwal Farmers

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) is receiving more and more complaints from farmers in the Rooiwal area who have repeatedly had to approach the courts to compel the City of Tshwane to supply them with enough potable water.

A 2023 court order stipulated that sufficient water must be provided to residents and livestock daily, but the Metro has reduced delivery to only four days per week. Consequently, dozens of residents and more than a thousand head of livestock are left in a predicament.

Although the previous administration – of which the Freedom Front Plus was part – made significant progress in 2023–2024 and reached a settlement to ensure daily water delivery by tanker to the 84 smallholdings and farms while the Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works is upgraded, the current administration under ActionSA, the ANC, EFF and other parties has failed to honour the agreement.

In the meantime, the malfunctioning plant has polluted both surface and groundwater, rendering it unsuitable for human and animal consumption.

Despite this, ActionSA Mayor Nacipa Moya and the ANC’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Finance, Eugene Modise, are boasting about the Metro’s supposed financial performance.

According to a senior official, a mere six months into the financial year, there is not enough money to fund essential water services, while R2 billion has been allocated to salary increases.

A study by labour analyst Andrew Levy (BusinessTech, 2023) shows that the median public sector salary is 77% higher than in the private sector, excluding benefits such as medical aid contributions and pensions. This raises the question of whether the Metro is prioritising excessive salaries, which further undermine service delivery, above the lives of humans and animals.

The Freedom Front Plus MPL and chairperson of the Gauteng Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Agriculture, Jaco Mulder, has already led his committee on an oversight visit to Rooiwal and has undertaken to urgently engage with the national Department of Water and Sanitation regarding the problem.

In the meantime, the EFF Mayoral Committee Member for Environmental Affairs and Agriculture, Obakeng Ramabodu, has not lifted a finger. To date, he has taken steps to address issues in Hammanskraal, but is ignoring the pleas of the affected farmers in Rooiwal.

In the Freedom Front Plus’s view, this failure is a violation of the Constitution and a threat to food security, as farmers cannot irrigate their crops or provide sufficient water to their livestock.

The party will keep pressuring all levels of government for urgent intervention.

Freedom Front Plus Self-Determination: The party emphasizes the right to self-determination for communities.

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