Thirst and fury in Hammanskraal with pipeline delays

The Citizen

25-07-2025

Residents of Hammanskraal have had to endure more than 40 days without a single drop of water from their taps.
Despite government assurances of progress, frustration is boiling over as delays in critical infrastructure projects continue to leave residents dry, angry, and demanding answers.
The crisis persists even as government officials point to recent infrastructure developments, including the partial handover of the much-anticipated Module 2 of the Klipdrift Water Treatment Works, formally handed to the Tshwane Metro on June 29.
The new module is designed to supply 12.5 million litres of water daily, yet for communities like Kudube units 1, 2, 3, 6, 10 and D, Jubilee Tower, and Majaneng, it hasn't translated into flowing taps.
'You can imagine not having water for six weeks, you will be stressed, your life changes, and remember, we don't use pit toilets here, we use flushing toilets.
'We need water on a regular basis and with us not having water, at some point you need to postpone when nature calls,' said frustrated resident Katlego Mthombeni.
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), Tshwane Metro and Magalies Water have acknowledged the continued inconsistent water supply in the phase two targeted areas.
According to a joint update issued on July 23, a key reason for the delay in restoring full supply is that the permanent pipeline meant to transport treated water from Babelegi to the Temba Reservoir 3 has not been completed.
Mayoral spokesperson Samkelo Mgobozi said in its place, officials have been using an old, temporary pipeline, which has been plagued by frequent leaks and limited delivery volumes.
Mgobozi said the temporary system is reportedly only supplying around 6.3 million litres per day, far below the required levels needed to flush and pressurise the network.
To make up for the shortfall, Mgobozi said the metro has increased the number of water tankers deployed in the affected communities.
But residents said the rollout is disorganised, insufficient, and unreliable.
Mthombeni confirmed that they were promised water trucks by the municipality, but they don't come regularly and are not enough.
The metro has promised to release a detailed schedule of tanker availability, but community members argue that without proper communication or accountability, the schedule will mean little.
Adding to residents' frustration is uncertainty over water safety.
While Mgobozi confirmed that water produced by both Klipdrift modules meets minimum SANS 241:2015 quality standards, he cautioned residents in Module 2 areas not to drink water from their taps until further notice.
'The message we have for the municipality as residents is that they must be transparent, they must communicate with us because the mayor promised that within three weeks the water will be safe and she will come and drink the water.
'She must come and address us because she is the one who gave us this promise. I feel like Module 2 is not ready. We must not continue to suffer like this,' said Mthombeni.
Mgobozi said the water flushing and cleaning process is 90% complete, but the low volumes from the temporary system are hampering progress.
The DWS warned that reverting to older sources like the Temba Water Treatment Works would undo the flushing gains and delay restoration into mid-September.
Wisane Mavasa of the department said some residents have asked for the old supply from Temba Water Treatment Works to be restored while waiting for increased volume.
Mavasa however said that would reverse the progress made to date and delay the completion of the flushing process to around mid-September.
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