Hammanskraal’s long wait for safe tap water is ending. President Cyril Ramaphosa officially commissions the Klipdrift 50-megalitre-per-day Package Water Treatment Plant as part of the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Mandela Day programme — a milestone moment for a community that has campaigned for clean water for years.
The fully operational facility will pump an additional 50 megalitres of treated, potable water per day into the City of Tshwane’s distribution network, benefiting an estimated 47,550 households — about 180,679 residents — in Hammanskraal and surrounding communities.
From crisis to comeback
The Klipdrift plant forms part of the Hammanskraal Emergency Water Supply Intervention, implemented by Magalies Water under the direction of the Department of Water and Sanitation after the water quality crisis of 2023. The department says the project demonstrates government’s rapid response to that emergency, an effective partnership between the department, Magalies Water and the City of Tshwane, and the successful deployment of innovative package water treatment technology at scale.
The build was also a local jobs engine: construction generated 169 employment opportunities, including permanent, skilled and local labour positions, while 18 small, medium and micro enterprises participated in the implementation. Sixty local community members benefited directly through project employment initiatives.
Boreholes for schools and villages
Alongside the big plant, President Ramaphosa and Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina are handing over a cluster of decentralised groundwater supply schemes in Hammanskraal, delivered through the Rand Water Foundation. The borehole-based systems are located at Kekana Community Hall, Botlhokwa bja Bana, Suurman Ridge Unit 5, Mashemong Section 5 and Lepheng Village.
Each scheme includes a production borehole, elevated storage tanks, communal water collection points and treatment systems designed to meet the minimum drinking water quality requirements of South African National Standard (SANS) 241. Together they are expected to improve access to safe drinking water for more than 1,400 households and learners in the area.
Part of a national wave
The Gauteng handovers form part of the national launch of 67 decentralised groundwater supply schemes across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape in celebration of Mandela Day, under the National Water Access Acceleration Programme. The programme targets more than 2,600 unserved settlements nationwide, with more than R200 million allocated to its first phase and further phases planned for October 2026 and April 2027, the department said via SAnews.
For Hammanskraal, the message is simple and sweet: the taps are flowing again, and this time the infrastructure behind them is built to last.
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Leave a Reply