The United Progressive People Alliance (UPPA) condemns the latest warning to residents in parts of Region 7, Tshwane, not to drink or cook with municipal tap water as yet another damning indictment of the state of service delivery in South Africa’s capital city.

Residents supplied by the Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Plant have been warned against consuming tap water following concerns over elevated turbidity levels, while the City has also cited health risks, including concerns around typhoid.

This is not normal. It is not acceptable in a capital city that residents should turn on a tap and then have to ask whether the water will make their families sick.

It is not acceptable that communities should have to depend on water tankers for something that should be reliably delivered through the municipal water network.

And it is certainly not acceptable for politicians to appear only when there is a crisis, issue a statement, deploy a few tankers and then expect residents to forget about the problem.

UPPA rejects the growing culture of managing municipal failure instead of fixing it.

The City says the treatment plant remains operational to stabilise network levels while safe alternative drinking water is provided through tankers.

But UPPA asks a simple question:

When will the City stop managing the symptoms and start fixing the system?

A tanker is an emergency intervention, it is not a water infrastructure strategy.

Residents deserve a municipal water system that works consistently, not a municipality that waits for communities to reach crisis point before responding.

UPPA demands that the City of Tshwane urgently provide residents with a full and transparent account of what went wrong at the Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Plant. The City must tell the public:

● What caused the elevated turbidity?

● When was the problem first detected?

● What do the latest water-quality tests show?

● Which communities and households are affected?

● What is the scientific basis for the current public-health warning?

● How many tankers have been deployed, and are they sufficient?

● What is the concrete timetable for restoring safe drinking water?

● What preventative measures are being implemented to ensure this does not happen again?

For too long, Tshwane residents have been expected to tolerate failing infrastructure, unreliable basic services, water interruptions, deteriorating roads, waste problems and collapsing municipal capacity.

This is precisely why Tshwane needs a political leadership that understands that service delivery is not a campaign slogan, it is the reason municipalities exist.

The people who govern Tshwane must be prepared to answer for the condition of the city.

Opposition parties must also stop treating every service-delivery failure as an opportunity for a social-media photograph and start demanding measurable accountability.

Residents do not need more politicians pointing fingers. They need leaders who can fix the problem.

Tshwane is the administrative capital of South Africa.

It should be a showcase of functioning local government.

Instead, too many communities are being forced to live with the consequences of institutional weakness and infrastructure deterioration.

UPPA will not accept the argument that residents should simply be grateful because water tankers have arrived.

UPPA believes Tshwane needs a fundamental shift away from crisis management towards competent, accountable and preventative municipal governance.

We need a capable institution. Reliable water infrastructure. Proper maintenance. Transparent water-quality monitoring. Rapid emergency response. Accountability when systems fail and political leadership that puts residents before party interests.

The people of Region 7 should not have to choose between drinking unsafe water and waiting for a tanker. They deserve better.

UPPA stands with the affected communities and calls on the City of Tshwane to provide daily public updates until safe drinking water has been restored.

Because water is not a privilege reserved for communities that can afford alternatives. Water is a basic service.

And when a municipality fails to provide safe water, the people have every right to demand answers.

Issued by: United Progressive People Alliance (UPPA) Tshwane Region

Media enquiries

Abel Tau

Mayoral Candidate and Campaign Spokesperson

0712655040