By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The City of Johannesburg Executive Mayor Dada Morero was grilled in parliament on Friday, over the decaying state of the city and its water challenges.
Morero, officials from Rand Water and Joburg Water appeared before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation to explain the measures the city is taking to address its water supply problems.
Residents in Johannesburg have taken to the streets since the beginning of the month, owing to water supply issues.
The forum painted a sobering picture of deep-rooted infrastructure failures, financial and operational inefficiencies, all contributing to a system teetering on the brink.
Morero stated that the already stretched system is vulnerable to disruptions caused by technical failures and intermittent electricity load reductions, which hinder pumping capacity.
He told the committee, that the municipality plans to raise R10.2 billion in loans over the next 10 years to finance repairing its water infrastructure.
He said the city has a plan to spend R32 billion on water.
The key projects the city is looking to implement include:
- Water demand management programme aimed at infrastructure upgrades (secondary mains), retrofitting of on-property leaking fixtures and STS metering. About R180 million has been budgeted in the current FY.
- Increasing storage capacity by constructing new Reservoirs and Towers. This includes Brixton Reservoir 26Ml and tower nearing completion, and Erand tower 2Ml nearing completion. About R228 million has been budgeted in the current FY.
- Refurbishment of leaking reservoirs with the commencement of phase one (17 reservoir complexes with 22 reservoirs). The contractors have been appointed for two reservoirs (Meadowlands & HH2), and the rest are expected to be awarded by November 2025. About R350 million has been budgeted in the current FY.
“We are in year one of the turnaround strategy,” Morero said. The city plans public-private partnerships and may seek investments from development-finance institutions for its plans, he said.
In July, large parts of the city were without water as reservoirs struggled to recover from scheduled maintenance and after criminals vandalized a key pipeline.
Water and Sanitation director general Sean Phillips said Gauteng residents are using water way above the daily international average per capita.
With a third of water supplied to Johannesburg residents being lost due to infrastructure leaks in a water scarce country, Phillips said this is unsustainable.
“There’s a need to reduce the average consumption per capita in all the municipalities in Gauteng, including Johannesburg.”
Morero said water restrictions are on the cards.
“With summer coming, we are going to see high consumption, therefore we will have to implement certain levels, including level 1 restriction, to ensure we can push consumption down.”
Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai, said it’s putting the maximum amount of water into the system every day as per licensing conditions, but the rate of usage is not allowing reservoirs to fill up.
Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson on Water and Sanitation Stephen Moore said, “It is clear that Johannesburg’s water crisis will not be fixed under this administration. Johannesburg needs a new government as soon as possible, or residents will continue to remain in the lurch.
Moore, who was unhappy with Morero and Johannesburg Water’s handling of the water crisis, called on minister Pemmy Majodina to intervene.
However, Majodina said there is nothing she could do because the municipalities did not account to her department.
“We can assist in terms of regulations and monitoring. We have Rand Water, which is working very well with the municipality.”
The committee Chairperson Leon Basson, said the city council was not serious about the water problem in the city, and he demanded that the mayor tell him how he is going to deal with the crisis.
“There is work that is being done between ourselves and the National Treasury, and once that work has been done, a proper announcement will be made as to how we are now going to ringfence the percentage that needs to be ringfenced,” said Morero.
The Committee tasked Morero with presenting detailed financial audits, progress reports, and a clear, actionable roadmap within 14 days.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of Parliament.