SAHRC threatens with court action over Hammanskraal water
The South Africa Human Rights Commission is expecting to meet with the City of Tshwane and the Gauteng Department of Water and Sanitation on Thursday over the quality of water in the Hammanskraal area in the north of Tshwane.
The SAHRC has indicated if their engagement doesn't lead to better quality water distributed in the area, it will approach the courts.
Hammanskraal residents claim their water is filthy and contaminated with bacteria.
The SAHRC has now instructed the provincial department of water to conduct independent tests and have arranged various meetings with top leadership at the City of Tshwane.
The human rights regulator visited the Hammanskraal area and the Jubilee District Hospital on Tuesday.
"If after independent tests conducted on the water and prove the water is contaminated - we will be left with no choice but to make a finding against the City of Tshwane," says the SAHRC's provincial manager, Buang Jones.
ALSO READ: NICD: No traces of cholera in Tshwane, tests to continue
According to Jones, doctors at the local hospital told them that they had to buy bottled water for patients and staff.
"We hope that the leadership of the municipality will appear before the Commission to account, and if they don't account they will have to issue a subpoena against the Mayor and City Manager."
He says the Commission was especially hit by pleads from elders and children within the community to act against the alleged human rights violations.
In June, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed that it found no trace of cholera.
The institution tested blood samples of four patients who contracted diarrhoea but the specific bacteria which causes cholera was not found.