Tshwane water went three weeks without chlorine, Brink says it is leadership failure
The former Tshwane mayor says the municipality simply failed to order chlorine for three weeks and did not tell the public, which he separates from the plant's infrastructure problems.
Tshwane’s water treatment plant went three weeks without chlorine being ordered or the water treated, and the public was not told, former Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink said in an interview broadcast by eNCA (YouTube) on 20 October.
Brink drew a hard line between the plant’s ageing infrastructure and what he described as a basic supply failure. The plant needs upgrading over the years and has had minor upgrades, he said, but that is a separate matter from the chlorine. Chlorine goes into every water treatment process, he said, and everyone knows it has to be ordered and everyone knows when it is out of stock.
For three weeks, he said, it was not ordered, the water was not treated and residents were not informed. He rejected the framing of an infrastructure problem. In his account it is a complete failure of management and leadership, and he said it would not have happened under his leadership.
The former mayor’s claim is that the failure sits with the municipality’s management rather than with the condition of the plant. The broadcast does not state what the City of Tshwane says about the chlorine supply, whether any water quality tests were carried out during the three weeks, or what residents were advised to do. The Enquirer has not independently established those points.
The interview was published by eNCA (YouTube) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rlVR8m1m_s.
