PRETORIA, Gauteng — As local government elections approach, the Tshwane water crisis has become the defining issue of the campaign trail. The Democratic Alliance (DA) held its final rally in the capital, centering its political message on delivering long-term Tshwane water solutions to residents frustrated by dry taps and contaminated supplies, with party leader Geordin Hill-Lewis leading the charge.
Addressing the crowd at the party’s closing event ahead of Wednesday’s local government elections, Geordin Hill-Lewis emphasized that clean water provision remains the cornerstone of the party’s mandate across Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, and Johannesburg. Holding up a bottle of water as a symbolic token of the campaign, Hill-Lewis reminded voters of the stakes, stating that citizens have a clear choice to vote for a city where water actually comes out of the tap. His remarks come amid recent water shortages in various Johannesburg wards and contamination issues in Bronkhorstspruit.
Tshwane mayoral candidate Cilliers Brink, who appeared at the rally wearing a campaign shirt advocating for an end to emergency water tankers, outlined the party’s specific infrastructure strategies. Brink stated that his primary objective is to complete the Hammanskraal clean water project. This includes finalizing the package plant built at Klipdrift in cooperation with the national government. According to Brink, connecting this plant to Tshwane’s reticulation system will deliver clean water directly to Hammanskraal taps and systematically eliminate the need for emergency water tankering.
Brink also addressed recent failures in the municipality, clarifying that the contamination in Bronkhorstspruit was not an infrastructure failure, but rather the result of the municipality failing to chlorinate the water for three weeks without notifying the public.
Highlighting the broader systemic pressures on the city’s water network, Brink noted that water losses in Tshwane have surged from 32% to 41% over the past two years. This means that 41 liters of every 100 liters purchased from Rand Water or purified by the city is lost to leaks. He stressed that reversing this trajectory requires serious infrastructure investment over the next five years to prevent residents from relying entirely on water tankers.
Addressing his own past tenure as mayor of Tshwane, Brink defended his record regarding the area’s historical water issues. He noted that a cholera outbreak occurred two months after his election, though subsequent tests by the CSIR and the Department of Water and Sanitation never detected cholera in the water system. Despite this, he acknowledged that residents have lacked potable water for years, making the completion of the water project the only viable solution to restore trust in the tap water.
Brink attributed the stalling of the Hammanskraal project to political maneuvering, claiming that ActionSA “sold the city out” to the ANC to install Nasiphi Mooya as mayor. He alleged that once the ANC resumed control of the municipal council, interest in the Hammanskraal project waned. According to Brink, during Mooya’s first year as mayor, the city’s expenditure on water tankers increased by 45%.
With special votes underway and the main election scheduled for Wednesday, Brink emphasized that the DA is presenting a clear, unhidden agenda to the electorate. While the party is open to working with other political parties if necessary—stating they will work with the “cards dealt” by the voters—their ultimate goal is to break the political deadlock and chaos. Hill-Lewis echoed this sentiment in his closing address, casting the vision for the DA to become the largest party not just in Tshwane, but across South Africa, while maintaining a humble respect for the democratic process.
The urgency of the DA’s message is reflected on the ground in areas like Hammanskraal, where residents are frequently seen carrying buckets to fetch water from tankers, underscoring the critical need for the infrastructure solutions being debated on the campaign trail.
