Every administration in Tshwane failed to make headway with the dysfunctional Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant mainly because of the combination of a lack of political will and the deep tentacles of the criminal underworld, writes Stevens Mokgalapa.
Every administration in Tshwane failed to make headway with the dysfunctional Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant mainly because of the combination of a lack of political will and the deep tentacles of the criminal underworld, writes former executive mayor of Tshwane, Stevens Mokgalapa.
It tells the story of the neglect of more than the environmental factors that give rise to a disease such as cholera, an ailment that should not be breaking out and killing as many as it has in a middle-income, sophisticated country like South Africa.Hammanskraal is less than an hour away from the Pretoria CBD. It is part of the Tshwane Metro. In other words, it is part of a city regarded that has one of the largest international embassies outside of Washington DC.
It reminds us that a functional state is one where politicians are responsive because they are in a pact with the communities that elect them, and their key deliverables are measured in terms of the improved lives of those communities. The Hammanskraal scenario should be a clear indicator of just how indifferent the criminal networks that loot the state are to who is in charge. Their intention to steal is non-partisan.They are only loyal to their greed. Last September, a forensic report commissioned by the City of Tshwane found that nearly R300-million of money allocated for the Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant had been lost, stolen or misspent – one and the same thing to ratepayers – in tender irregularities.
Needless to say, such bureaucrats succeed in their nefarious ways because of either the support of political principals or their negligence in doing the job they were elected for – to serve the best interests of their communities.
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