AfriForum submitted a complaint to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) on 7 November 2019 and sent a lawyer’s letter to the Tshwane Metro about the water situation in Hammanskraal after residents there have been without water for a long period of time.
The HRC has already informed AfriForum that it is investigating the case.
According to the Constitution, every person has the right to clean, running water, and it is the Metro’s responsibility to provide these services. It should also adhere to providing the minimum requirement of 25 litres of water per resident per day.
Jaco Grobbelaar, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for Greater Pretoria, says that the Metro does not provide these services as the law requires. “It is the Metro’s responsibility to provide residents with clean, running water. If they can no longer do this, they should provide the community with water in other ways until the problem is resolved and the services have returned back to normal.”
AfriForum will also perform water tests in the area to ascertain that the water provided to the community is fit for human consumption. Grobbelaar also says that AfriForum is monitoring the situation closely.