Police escorts for water tankers as Bronkhorstspruit illness cases hit 833

The Tshwane Metro Police Department will begin escorting private water tankers to establish where they source their supplies and whether the water has been tested.

The City of Tshwane’s metro police will begin escorting private water tankers to establish where they source their water, as the number of reported gastrointestinal illness cases linked to contaminated water in Bronkhorstspruit has risen to 833.

Tshwane mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya announced the measure during a media briefing on Monday, where Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina confirmed the latest figures. 

Deputy President Paul Mashatile also attended the briefing.

Mashatile visited the affected area and the Bronkhorstspruit water treatment works as part of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Water and Sanitation, which is co-ordinating government interventions to address water and sanitation challenges, strengthen accountability and accelerate responses to service delivery concerns.

Moya said the city had instructed the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) to monitor private water tankers and establish where they sourced their supplies and whether the water had been tested.

“There are areas that are receiving water through boreholes, there is testing that is happening there.” 

“There are those that are buying from spaza shops, there is testing that is happening there through the environmental health colleagues,” she said.

She said the city had provided the registration numbers of private tankers to the TMPD to facilitate checks.

“We just gave all the registration numbers to TMPD to start following the tankers around to make sure that we know where they get the water, who has tested the water, and we have asked that TMPD must remove those tankers until we have the results,” Moya said.

She added that water testing would continue and stressed the importance of communicating with affected communities.

Moya said the city had also arranged meetings with community leaders in Region 7 to improve communication during the crisis.

In a statement, the city called on independent private water tanker operators wishing to assist affected communities to obtain municipal verification and authorisation before distributing water.

“The City welcomes and appreciates the support of private-sector partners assisting affected communities. However, all independent operators must meet the same water-quality and safety standards as municipal tankers and contracted service providers,” the statement said.

The city said operators must present their vehicles at the Commando Building, in Bronkhorstspruit, for verification, authorisation and water-quality testing by the city’s environmental health practitioners.

The city stressed that the checks were precautionary and did not mean contamination had been detected in privately supplied water.

“These are precautionary measures and do not indicate that contamination has been identified in privately supplied water. They are intended to ensure consistent standards and protect residents throughout the emergency response,” the statement said.

The TMPD will conduct compliance checks, and operators distributing water without authorisation will be required to stop until they have completed the verification process.

The city urged residents to obtain drinking water only from verified and authorised sources and to avoid untreated water from rivers, dams and other unverified sources.

The city has since suspended the manager of the Bronkhorstspruit water treatment works pending further investigation and commissioned an independent probe into the failures that contributed to the crisis.

The outbreak follows reports of hundreds of gastrointestinal illness cases in Bronkhorstspruit and surrounding communities between October 7 and 18. 

The contamination has been linked to inadequate chlorination at the treatment works, which has since been closed. 

Affected residents are relying on water tankers.

Moya said a preliminary investigation had raised concerns about the interruption of chlorine supplies, the alleged failure to escalate the risks and the delay in warning residents.

She said the city’s chief operations officer had been tasked with investigating the circumstances surrounding the disruption.

“I think anyone who is found to have been negligent in their responsibilities in terms of the chlorine availability, in terms of the communication regarding the non-availability of the chlorine, and the decision to shut down the plant that was not taken, I think the internal investigation will be able to identify who should be fired from that point of view,” she said.

Moya added that external processes, including criminal cases and investigations involving the Department of Water and Sanitation, were also under way.

She said investigators would examine the directives issued to the city, how officials responded and whether their responses were adequate.

“Based on the outcomes of those investigations, then we will know who must be fired,” she sai

Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa described the water contamination crisis as unacceptable, saying it exposed serious weaknesses in the city’s water operations.

“What has happened in Bronkhorstspruit is a complete dereliction of the work and the duties that the municipality of Tshwane was supposed to be executing,” Ramaphosa said in Mamelodi on Monday.

“And it is really sad and unacceptable that in the end it leads to diseases that are going to spread amongst our people.”

The crisis has renewed concerns about water safety, municipal oversight and the ability of local authorities to provide reliable services.

The city has also lifted a boil-water advisory for Pretoria’s central business district after laboratory tests confirmed that the water was safe to drink.