Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

AfriForum issues two-day ultimatum to Tshwane Metro over massive water leak in Pretoria East

Soundbite: Arno Roodt (English)

Soundbite: Arno Roodt (Afrikaans)

AfriForum today issued a formal ultimatum to the Tshwane Metro demanding that a massive water leak on Rossouw Street in Murrayfield in the east of Pretoria, which has been causing large-scale water waste and damage to the road surface for weeks, be repaired within two working days. According to AfriForum, this leak is clear evidence of the metro’s careless failure to maintain basic infrastructure.

According to Arno Roodt, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for Pretoria South, the metro’s failure to repair the leak is all the more unacceptable in the midst of the Level 1 water restrictions that apply in the metro. “Residents are therefore expected to use water sparingly, while the metro itself is guilty of massive water waste,” he emphasises. “It is unfair and unacceptable that the metro’s inaction contradicts the very measures it imposes on its residents.”

According to the ultimatum now given to the metro, the civil rights organisation will investigate alternative solutions if the metro fails to repair the leak within two working days. The possibility for AfriForum to carry out the extensive repairs to the leak and the road surface itself, to prevent further damage to the road surface, limit frustration for the community and reduce the risks for motorists, will be considered, among other things.

“This incident highlights the bigger, systemic problems within the Tshwane Metro. We therefore call on the metro to take a more open, inclusive and proactive approach and engage the private sector and civil society organisations, such as AfriForum, to address the serious backlog in infrastructure repairs. Through a closer partnership with the private sector and civil society, an innovative approach to maintaining water pipelines, substations, power grids, roads and various other types of infrastructure can be taken in the interest of the metro’s residents,” concludes Roodt.

In the meantime, AfriForum will monitor the situation in Rossouw Street in collaboration with the local Ward Councillor to ensure that residents’ rights are protected and that tax money in this metro is used effectively and responsibly.

Get involved with AfriForum today and help make a difference in your immediate community. For more information, visit www.wordlid.co.za.