Morero and Joburg Water to address water recovery efforts

City of Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero and Johannesburg Water officials are set to provide an update on the recovery of municipal water systems.

This follows Rand Water’s 86-hour maintenance operation from December 13 to December 16, which left numerous Johannesburg residents without water for days.

Despite the conclusion of the maintenance, some areas, such as Robertsham, remain without water.

A Robertsham resident says, “Hi, I’m from Cambly Road, and we haven’t had water since Friday, and we still don’t have water. They keep saying it’s coming back, but it hasn’t. We’ve had to fetch water from JoJo tanks, but they’re often empty. We’ve been without water for over a week, and we’re struggling, especially with elderly people at home. Thankfully, some neighbors with boreholes have been helpful.”

WaterCAN launches petition 

WaterCAN, an initiative of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), has launched a petition urging the City of Johannesburg to double the Joburg Water capital budget to R3 billion for 2024/25 and 2025/26.

WaterCAN Executive Manager, Dr. Ferrial Adam says, “So Treasury advises that we should be spending at least six to eight percent of the cost of the asset on maintenance every year and that has not happened for about 10 years. So the first thing would be that we’re saying this budget must be ring-fenced for water and sanitation. So you can’t use it for anything else. We’re also saying that there has to be proper checks and balances in place…”

“We need to make sure things are transparent in terms of tenders – who gets tenders, how they were done. We need to have detailed breakdowns of the spending on the operational budget, purchasing of bulk water equipment and on maintenance,” says Adams.

The ongoing water crisis has raised concerns about public health, economic stability, and environmental sustainability in Johannesburg.

PODCAST | WaterCAN launches petition for increase in funding for water in Johannesburg: