Joburg mayor Dada Morero, alongside MMC Jack Sekwaila is addressing the ongoing water challenges facing Johannesburg in a media briefing at the Brixton Reservoir.
As President Cyril Ramaphosa prepared to present his State of the Nation address (Sona) on Thursday, his second in the government of national unity (GNU), residents of some suburbs across Joburg were protesting about the lack of water.
The crisis has left no one untouched. Businesses, forced to shut their doors as the crisis deepens, have yet to feel the full cost of the calamity. If the mess is not fixed urgently, job losses are inevitable, especially in the restaurant sector.
The impact on schools, clinics and households has left citizens angry, frustrated and desperate.
In his 2025 Sona, Ramaphosa promised to prioritise secure and reliable water supply. A year later, the taps continue to run dry, forcing frustrated residents, who feel unheard by the City of Joburg, to take to the streets.
The protests come after years of worsening water woes in the city, fuelled by decaying infrastructure, poor maintenance and a general decline in governance.
The residents, battling other service delivery failures, such as power cuts, delayed refuse collection, potholes and crime, hope protesting will prompt Ramaphosa’s government to speed up fixing municipalities before the local government elections. They also hope the president’s proposed actions will be more than just electioneering.
They believe Joburg mayor Dada Morero is not doing enough to ease the problem. When he went to Brixton to brief residents on the crisis this week, tempers flared as many expressed frustration with the city’s handling of the water issues. Other affected areas include Midrand, Fourways, Westdene, Parktown West, Melville and Emmarentia. Some residents have been without water for weeks.
Apart from the health hazards that come with not having water for days on end, the disaster strips citizens of dignity and raises questions about the political will of the city fathers to fix the water problems.
Civic organisations, such as WaterCAN, have added their voices to the chorus of calls for an urgent declaration of a national state of disaster, arguing that the water crisis cuts across the country, with villagers most affected.
While Ramaphosa has promised to fix municipalities and restore service delivery, civil organisations and the opposition want to see practical steps to arrest the decline.
Those in the GNU are cautiously optimistic that the citizens’ cries for intervention will receive the urgent attention they deserve. The next few months will tell how serious the government is about fixing the ills of local government. With Sona behind us, action must follow.