ANC Tshwane caucus spokesperson Joel Masilela photo by Dimakatso Modipa
ANC Greater Tshwane Caucus Spokesperson Councillor Joel Masilela has lambasted the previous DA-led administration for the prevalent use of water tankers and the mushrooming of shacks in Tshwane.
In a one-on interview with Tshwane Talks this week, Masilela pointed out that during the tenure of the ANC as the ruling party in Tshwane until 2016, the ANC had a programme called “Re aga Tshwane,” (We are building Tshwane) which was a deliberate effort to formalise informal settlements and reducing unaccounted for water and electricity consumption.
“There is water that we get from Rand Water that we pay for but is supplied to informal settlements; whereby the City of Tshwane can’t generate any revenue and there is also electricity which we get from Eskom which also ends up at informal settlements and from which the City of Tshwane can’t generate any revenue either, and so we had a principle known as ‘electricity for all’ as a way of reducing the consumption of electricity illegally at informal settlement areas,” said Masilela.
“Year-on-year our unaccounted electricity consumption amounted to 500 to 700 million Rand and we received clean audit outcomes from the Auditor General,” explained Masilela.
“When we formalised informal settlements around 2016 we gave people pieces of land and Nellmapius Extension 21 and Extension 24 are examples here, and this is not something that is in the figment of our imagination but something that we did,” he enthused.
“During our previous tenure residents of Tshwane knew that under the leadership of the ANC they would not invade municipal land with impunity as we would unleash the force of security personnel so as to protect the Municipality’s assets but when the DA administration came into power in 2016 they had a partnership with a political party that I will not mention here and together they allowed the mushrooming of informal settlements,” he said.
“We reported the mushrooming of informal settlements to the DA-led administration of that time and also made it clear to land invaders that for as long as they invade Municipal land then they are challenging both the water and road infrastructure as well as electricity security,” said Masilela.
“Our claims came true as there are more pot holes with people at informal settlements doing as they wish,” he said.
He said the number of informal settlements rose from 250 to 502 under the DA-led administration, which is a 100% increase because the DA-led administration was not willing to get rid of informal settlements.
“The unaccounted consumption of water and electricity has now ballooned to over a billion rand and this has resulted in the Auditor General delivering an adverse finding against the City of Tshwane.
He said before the end of 2016 when the ANC was in power, the use of water tankers was minimal but increased exponentially under the DA-led administration from 2016 to 2025 so as to provide land invaders with water.
“The current ANC-led administration now has to carry the burden created by the DA and continue to use water tankers, because failure to do so would result in the Human Rights Commission taking the City of Tshwane Municipality to task regarding violation of human rights,” explained Masilela.
“The use of water tankers has not started now in the past four months but has been increasing at an alarming rate under the DA-led administration,” lamented Masilela.
“The DA is being economical with the truth if it wants to blame the ANC for the so-called increase in the usage of water tankers because we are trying to rescue the situation and turn the situation of the informal settlement residents around,” he explained.
He said that poor residents have been complaining that they can’t pay for their utility bills and that those living in RDP houses valued at less than R250 000 or less don’t have to go to the Municipality to apply for enrollment in the Poorest of the Poor (POP) programme because such people are registered automatically as indigents by the City of Tshwane Municipality.
“But when the DA-led administration came into power they cancelled almost every body from the indigent programme and ordered them to re-register though they (DA-led administration) didn’t have that capacity of social workers who would tackle the issue of assessing and enrolling over 180 000 indigent residents on the POP programme,” he said.
“Now many residents who qualify for the POP have been removed from the programme and because they can’t afford to pay for services they have resorted to connecting water and electricity illegally, resulting in the City of Tshwane losing revenue,” emphasised Masilela.
“The ANC-led administration in the City of Tshwane, unlike that of the DA administration, is a responsible government,” he said.