There’s a ‘high-level agreement’ to upgrade Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant

The cholera cases in Hammanskraal seem to have stabilised, City of Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink said after opening the council meeting yesterday.

“We continue to do everything to assist the families affected. There is a high-level agreement between me and the minister of water and sanitation regards a partnership to upgrade the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant,” he added.

Upgrade of Rooiwal

Brink said the plant was the source of the poor-quality water in Hammanskraal.

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“The city manager has written to the National Treasury to start the process of blacklisting the entities implicated or involved in contract breaches in the first phase of the upgrade of Rooiwal,” he said.

Council meeting interrupted

The council meeting was interrupted by points of order and senseless debates while the speaker tried to get through the agenda and the political parties waited for ActionSA to submit its motion of no confidence against speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana.

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Tshwane regional chair Obakeng Ramabodu said they would check if the motion accorded with the rules of the council.

“You don’t just table a motion. You check the rules and see if it agrees with the motion. We won’t shy away from our position as the EFF; we don’t want the speaker to go,” he said.

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Ramabodu said the speaker was within his rights to dismiss the motion.

“It has been done before. We have asked them. We want to give their mayor Brink a chance. “But we are also asking them to give the speaker a chance,” he said.

Ramabodu said this didn’t mean that they were happy with the leadership of the mayor but that they were prepared to give him a chance and intended to hold him accountable.

Motion of no confidence

Democratic Alliance caucus chair for the coalition Jacqui Uys said the entire coalition supported the motion of no confidence against the speaker brought by ActionSA.

“The reason was the importance of a stable government is linked to the implementation of a coalition agreement.

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“Such a position can’t be held by an official opposition party member, or outside the coalition. The position influences the way the coalition government is governed,” she said.

Uys said the speaker was not acting in the interests of the government.

While the council sitting was delayed with objections and debates between the coalition parties and the opposition alternative coalition parties, a group of marchers showed up at Tshwane House demanding to hand over a memorandum of demands to the city speaker, which further delayed the sitting.

The group of residents from Mamelodi had initially planned to march to the Union Buildings, but instead opted to march to the council to hand over the memorandum.

A group of angry residents said they have been residing in the community hall since 2019, while others had moved back to the danger zone, from which they were removed after heavy floods damaged their houses.

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“We are still waiting after their empty promises,” one of the marchers said.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za