Ralf Bittkau

Attendance

Present

54

Leave of absence

9

Absent without leave

1

Arrived late

2

Left early

2

Reasons given for leave: Private business (4), Party business (2), Ill health (2), Other (1).

"Absent without leave" means the signed minutes of a meeting held while they were on council neither list them as present nor excuse them, and no similar name appears that day, so misspellings in the minutes don't count against anyone. Each square links to the minutes.

In the chamber

From the 10 sittings transcribed so far in their term. Times are approximate, to the nearest transcript line.

Not present when called

1

Times given the floor

3

Average wait to start

58 s

Average greetings first

11 s

Apology or leave of absence (3)

• 30 Sept 2026 · 00:25:53No reason given. Leave of absence reported by Cllr Avant-Smith; no reason given. sitting
• 26 Aug 2026 · 00:41:43Party business. DA apology for party business. sitting
• 30 Jul 2026 · 00:01:35Party business. Listed on leave of absence but later said he was online. sitting

Not present when called (1)

• 24 Jun 2026 · 03:32:48Called to speak on item 68; another DA councillor said he would speak in his place. sitting

In their words

Every time the chair gave them the floor in a transcribed sitting (3), newest first. The words are the AI transcript of that stretch of the livestream (Argon), so they can include the chair or an interjection; the time link is the place to check.

• 22 Jul 2026 · 03:43:11Items 9-13 (EISD, City Power, Joburg Water, Pikitup) · 5 min 14 s

  Read what they said (709 words)

  Thank you, Madam Speaker. After the screaming match, uh may we carry on?

  Councillor, there's a Councillor on the podium. There's a Councillor on the podium. Councillor, there's a Councillor on the podium.

  Uh-uh. There's a Councillor on the podium.

  Are you serious? Goodness sake.

  Councillor Bittkau, can you carry on?

  Oh, can I get started at last? Thank you, Speaker.

  Yes.

  Madam Speaker, I rise to address item 9 to 13, especially the quarterly report by Joburg Water. Contrary to our uh Councillor from the PA, I must have read a different report. This report is best described as a litany of failures, not only by Joburg Water, but by the City as a whole. When we look at the overall picture, we get a provision of basic water to 69 units out of a target of 500.

  Pipe bursts 14% over target. Sewer bursts 13.5% over target. Couple that with pipe bursts repaired within 48 hours being at 42% against the target of 90% and sewer blockages at 81% against the target of 95% and you start to get the picture of why we have 49.9% non-revenue water and E. coli pollution in our rivers with readings

  between 200,000 and 2 million instead of the acceptable 200 units per test sample. What this report fails to mention is the amount of time over the 48 hours, such as the recent water outage in Bromhof for three weeks or 504 hours, or the continuous and ongoing sewer spills into the Pampoenspruit for over 14 months or 10,200 hours.

  Madam Speaker, the report speaks about BEE and awarded tenders. With other words, as per the list supplied Black Empowerment Awards, which is very noble until you read the performance reports. The reports show that 288 million worth of contracts are being monitored, which is one step before suspension. 924 million have already been cancelled or are in litigation.

  Madam Speaker, this actually supports the DA's call for scrapping BEE. Now we come to the real elephant in the room, Madam Speaker. The MD mentions in his report suspension of capital expenditure projects and actual expenditure only sitting at 34%. Pipe replacement project suspended due to non-payment totaling 26 km.

  Sewer project suspended in Bez Valley and Noordwyk due to non-payment. Northern Wastewater Treatment Plant 896 million on hold due to cash flow problems. Contracts not awarded due to cash flow problems 1.5 billion. Madam Speaker, the report furthermore points out that invoices not paid on time were due to the following reasons:

  5.6% due to Joburg Water issues. 9.3% due to supplier issues, which leaves us with 85.1% of invoices not paid on time. And I hope our Mayor is listening. Oh, he's not here. Yet again. 85.1% of invoices not paid on time because of cash flow restrictions.

  Madam Speaker, the misguided impression by the Executive of this City was further demonstrated by the pride with which they presented the final handover of the Brixton reservoir and tower, even though it had been delayed by 14 months because of the very same reasons. The cash flow restrictions are affecting every entity right to this day. Pikitup is constantly late because of longer waits at landfill sites and being refused to use some sites.

  City Power has problems getting materials for repairs and Joburg Water has contractors walking off the repair jobs because of non-payment. All this because the Executive of this City keeps exercising and abusing their right for sweeping funds and using money elsewhere, something which still needs to be established where this elsewhere is. Overall, this report is a reflection of an entity that is trying to be effective and well run,

  but is hamstrung by the executive mismanagement.

  30 seconds.

  This is also a true reflection of the total decay of this once vibrant City, but thank heavens that we have the answer with Super Gogo Helen Zille coming to the rescue. Madam Speaker, I'd like to just add that I'm actually pleasantly surprised to see the amount of MMCs here today and not like the last meeting where we had only the Deputy Mayor here

  and one MMC walking in, making some funny comment and walking out after 10 minutes. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

• 24 Jun 2026 · 05:52:3172 · 2 min 42 s

  Read what they said (350 words)

  Madam Speaker, Madam Speaker, although the proposed framework for the recovery of Joburg Water is laudable in the broader sense, as it's at least an attempt to rectify the mismanagement and financial woes, at a glance, it looks very nice and oh so positive. However, when one digs deeper and studies these items more closely, the flaws become very obvious.

  Uh, my fellow Councillor, Chris Santana, in the previous item actually alluded to a lot of them. However, even though this proposal is based on loading a huge portion on the residents, including the current increases of 12.5% in tariffs, and not to mention the demand side increase of 62%.

  Even though mention is made of reducing the loss of water, it is glazed over and lacking the applicable attention. Furthermore, the reduction of commercial customers, as emphasized by the amount of empty factories around Joburg, has not been taken into account. Anybody who has run a business knows that trimming off the fat is one of the first issues to look at. Let us look at just the eight senior managers which cost 13.5 million per annum.

  Another aspect is providing a motivated workforce, and that is definitely not possible when you have an entire depot moved into new premises, and 18 months later, they are still working in containers like a temporary site establishment. Although the target set for reduction of technical losses are way above the acceptable maximum according to also the target set for reduction of technical losses are way above the acceptable maximum according to world standards.

  With other words, Joburg Water is placing the load squarely on the residents without applying the same and bigger pressure to themselves. Furthermore, this item has not served before the Section 79 where the necessary discussions could have been held in order to amend this proposal. But yet again, it shows how the urgency to push this through in a hurry has made this into an item which is not thought through properly, has not followed the proper ways, and therefore, unfortunately, we cannot support it. Thank you.

• 24 Jun 2026 · 04:57:4068 · 59 s

  Read what they said (147 words)

  Thank you, councillor. Uh ANC, Councillor Madiba. I've noted you. I've noted you. Councillor Madiba.

  It works and it doesn't work. Okay.

  Madam Speaker, this report is being pushed through at one hell of a speed. It hasn't come to a Section 79, and this is so important and so detailed that it should be before the 79. We've got major issues here. We've got uh with the Joburg Water. It cannot just be pushed through because somebody feels it's got to be in now. You could get an extension from gov- from national

  government of another 90 days, and you could uh uh address this properly. But it's the same as uh our uh sound problems earlier on showed really how everybody is just in a hurry to push things through here today. Unfortunately, ma- Madam Speaker, under these circumstances, we cannot support this. Thank you.

Spoke on

• 30 Jul 2026 · 00:14:17Cllr Bittkau's LOA error and EFF count of 15
• 22 Jul 2026 · 03:43:32DA on Joburg Water performance
• 24 Jun 2026 · 04:57:27Item 69: DA says no Section 79 scrutiny
• 24 Jun 2026 · 05:47:45Item 72: Johannesburg Water performance improvement action plan v2