ActionSA President Herman Mashaba addresses workers at the Jabulani Fire Station in Soshanguve about Tshwane's plans to upgrade the facility during his oversight visit on Wednesday.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
Two out of three fire trucks at the Jabulani Fire Station in Soshanguve have been out of commission for years, putting the local community at risk.
The station also faces additional issues, including non-functional ablution facilities, broken gym equipment, laundry machines that have been awaiting repair since last year, and a male shower without hot water.
ActionSA President Herman Mashaba uncovered the station's dire situation during a Wednesday oversight visit, where workers informed him that they lacked essential tools to perform their duties effectively.
He assured the workers that his party was there as part of the coalition government and was committed to taking responsibility and implementing plans to address past failures and improve their working conditions.
He expressed concern that the only operational fire truck was the water tanker, which could barely accommodate three workers.
“They are here with trucks that don’t work, and if there is a fire, what do they do? You run a fire station with trucks that don’t work. Is it not an indictment of the failure of the municipality? How do you expect them to work without having the necessary infrastructure?” he asked.
According to him, the city last allocated funds to the fire station in the 2014/2015 financial year.
He mentioned that the recently passed budget allocates R1 million for the Jabulani station.
Mashaba said the budget would be used to properly service the fire trucks, with immediate plans to repair them.
“When you don’t really have money to buy new ones, fix the existing ones. With a million rand, you won’t be able to fix all of them properly. You must also upgrade the facility,” he said.
He also expressed concern about the broken gym equipment, saying: “Any fire station, anywhere in the world, training is really one of the critical factors.”
He explained that due to limited financial resources, it was not possible to address all the issues in one year.
He also visited the Soshanguve AI substation, which has been identified as the source of constant power outages in the township.
The city energised the newly-installed cables in Block DD in Soshanguve on May 7 as part of efforts to manage ongoing power outages.
Residents recently expressed their frustration over the power outages by resorting to protests, which included barricading roads with burning tyres.
Mashaba said: “People of Soshanguve, just bear with us, there is a budget allocation just to ensure that you can have reliable electricity services in your communities going forward.”
He lashed out at the previous DA administration, saying that since 2021, they have been presenting an unfunded budget.
Last week, DA Tshwane spokesperson on finance Jacqui Uys said her party rejected the “farce that is the City of Tshwane’s budget”.
“Tshwane’s budget, while promising to uplift and make life easier for the residents of Tshwane, is nothing but a protection of ANC patronage, while using residents as cash cows,” she said.
The ANC, on the other hand, welcomed the city’s fully funded 2025/26 budget, saying it marked “a turning point for the City of Tshwane's financial governance and service delivery capabilities”.
“The approval of this budget restores credibility to the city's institutional capacity and sends a clear message that the municipality is moving forward with purpose, discipline, and unity of vision,” the ANC said.
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za