Hammanskraal cholera crisis 'a wake-up call' as death toll climbs
Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has described the Hamanskraal water crisis as a wake-up call.
His comments come as three more people have succumbed to cholera in the area north of Pretoria.
It brings to 20 the number of fatalities from the outbreak.
"If we don't wake up now, we will never wake up. It's painful now but we have to stand up and fix the problem once and for all."
The Minister says the water crisis in Hammanskraal can be traced back nearly 20 years.
"It's an ugly history that someone as far back as 2004 said Rooiwal, as a wastewater treatment plant, is going to be disastrous unless it gets attended to [timeously] and efficiently. It's a similar story [to the one] of energy supply in South Africa."
READ: Cholera-hit Hammanskraal blames govt for deadly outbreak
The City of Tshwane awarded a R250 million contract in 2019 to refurbish Hammanskraal's Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant, believed to have contributed to the cholera outbreak.
The work was no completed.
On Wednesday, the City announced that R450 million is being allocated towards finalising the upgrades to the facility.
During his budget speech, Finance MMC Peter Sutton, said the amount would be split over three years, with the first allocation of R150 million expected on 1 July 2023.
