Ramaphosa slams Tshwane over Bronkhorstspruit water crisis

President Cyril Ramaphosa has accused the City of Tshwane of dereliction of duty in its handling of water services, describing the situation in Bronkhorstspruit as “unacceptable” as the municipality faces questions over a chlorine supply failure linked to an outbreak.

Ramaphosa said the incident exposed weaknesses in municipal water management and underscored the need for national government to intervene more directly in addressing the country’s water crisis.

What has happened in Bronkhorstspruit is a complete dereliction of the work and the duties that the municipality of Tshwane was supposed to be executing.

He said the incident was “really sad and unacceptable that in the end it leads to diseases that are going to spread among our people.”

This comes as the Sunday Times reported this week that the poor water quality at the Bronkhorstspruit treatment plant had been flagged as far back as the 2023 Blue Drop report, scoring just 42.3% against a benchmark of 95% or higher for drinking-water compliance.

The report said the department of water & sanitation also sent the Tshwane municipality a letter of noncompliance in February.

The contributing factor in the outbreak is because of no chlorine, not the warning that they were talking about.

The deputy mayor acknowledged that the city had challenges with water supply, pointing to spillage further upstream as one of the contributing problems.

The president said addressing the crisis required cooperation between national and local government, with municipalities needing to manage water services while preparing for the possibility of reduced rainfall.