'We have failed to eradicate a network of corruption,' said Tshwane's executive mayor Cilliers Brink, while the capital scrambles to find the source of a deadly cholera outbreak and plans to pump millions into a water treatment plant.

Pretoria expects to spend R150-million annually over the next three years towards refurbishing the Rooiwal WasteWater Treatment Plant which Parliament three years ago said had been poorly operated and maintained.

Raw sewage has been pouring into a river near the plant, which treats Hammanskraal's sewage. For many years Hammanskraal residents have been subjected to "undrinkable" water, while upgrades of the plant commenced and never finished.

"The situation is bad," said environmental justice activist Dr Ferrial Adams, of WaterCAN, an initiative of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse.

Adams said Hammanskraal's tap water was found to be unfit for drinking when they tested it in July 2019. They found high levels of E. coli, a bacteria that is found in human intestines and comes from sewage pollution. The following month the SAHRC declared the water in Hammanskraal "unfit for human consumption".

As of midday on Wednesday, 17 people in Hammanskraal had died from cholera. Mayor Brink said the city was striving to find the source. If the source remained undiscovered, the outbreak would be difficult to contain, he said, adding that laboratory tests on water from Hammanskraal had failed to detect the presence of the bacteria that cause cholera.

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