The DA has warned that up to 4,000 local jobs could be at risk if the ongoing water crisis gripping Johannesburg, SA’s economic and financial hub, is not resolved urgently.
This as residents of Coronationville, Selby and Marshalltown have been without water for about nine weeks.
DA caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said factory owners in those areas had also been affected, “which could lead to job losses of close to 4,000 South Africans”.
“Despite numerous requests to the executive mayor [Dada Morero] to directly intervene, these factory owners have been left on their own, with the city denying them their basic right to water,” she said.
“The DA met factory owners, who are on the verge of closing because of no water, and Johannesburg Water is still unable to clearly diagnose what the problem is with the Hector Norris Pump.”
Businessperson Lionel Feldman, owner of Interiors Unlimited, is among those affected by the water crisis. His business, situated in Selby, is a niche company specialising in custom-made designer furniture, curtaining and upholstery, with clients including insurance companies Hollard, Old Mutual, and Santam.
He said: “We employ 17 people, but currently only six are coming to work because of the toilet issue. Our businesses are suffering, we have been without water for three months. Not a drop of water is coming out of our taps, it’s insane. Water is a constitutional right.”
Feldman said he reached out to the ANC, and to the DA, which recently announced its DA federal council chair, Helen Zille, as its Johannesburg mayoral candidate for the 2026 municipal elections.
“Helen Zille personally came to my factory. She flew in water technicians from Cape Town. Whether she was doing that for political points, I don’t care, I’m a businessman and I’m very passionate about my business,” Feldman said, adding he did not hear “a word from the ANC”.
Treasury and government reforms
This comes after finance minister Enoch Godongwana last week rallied behind the reforms aimed at addressing the deteriorating quality of services in most of the metros, saying they would help improve the local authorities’ financial positions and stop their dependence on grants.
He said by addressing the key three trading services of water, sanitation and electricity, it was hoped these reforms would help unlock the economy and improve service delivery.
Business Day reported in May that the Treasury was working with the metros on a R54bn performance-based incentive that would help them with cash to fix their water, electricity and waste management services, on condition they ring-fenced revenue from those services in professionally run utilities that could ensure service delivery.
That was after President Cyril Ramaphosa used his state of the nation address in February to outline sweeping measures to turn around the embattled sector, which has attracted the attention of Operation Vulindlela, a joint initiative of the Treasury and Ramaphosa’s office set up in 2020 to reinvigorate the economy.
The second phase of the initiative would focus on this smallest unit of government, which has drawn sharp criticism from business leaders and citizens for its failure to roll out basic services such as potable water, electricity, clinics and refuse collection.
Ramaphosa said the government would work with the country’s 257 municipalities this year to ensure there was adequate investment and maintenance of the water and electricity systems.
Funding plans to fix infrastructure
Morero told Business Day recently his administration planned to raise R100bn in the next five years to fix water pipes, roads and power cables that lay in tatters. He vowed to push capital expenditure (capex) past R10bn next year as he courts lenders to help plug the R100bn infrastructure backlog.
Meanwhile, Johannesburg Water MD Ntshavheni Mukwevho told a breakfast event recently the city had a turnaround strategy to address its water woes. He said Johannesburg Water had an infrastructure renewal backlog of about R27bn. Non-revenue water accounted for 44.8% and water losses 32.9%.
Mukwevho identified the townships of Soweto, Alexandra, Ivory Park and Orange Farm, among others, as areas with a “high level of illegal [water] connections”. He bemoaned the fact that population growth in the metro was not matched by investment in water services infrastructure.
Rising debt strains water supply
Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai stated in July that municipalities owed the bulk water supplier a combined R8bn by the third quarter of 2024/25, up from about R1.5bn in 2015, placing a serious strain on Rand Water’s ability to function.
Rand Water supplies Gauteng’s three metropolitan municipalities, local municipalities, mines and other industries, as well as parts of Mpumalanga, the North West and Free State with an average of 3.653-million litres of potable water daily.
Kayser-Echeozonjoku said it was clear the ANC/EFF/PA coalition running the metro was “completely out of touch with the plight of the residents”.
“The city is fighting fires on all fronts, and the executive mayor is responsible for the chaos currently happening in the city,” she said and criticised Morero for allegedly postponing a planned meeting with affected residents.
The DA has since written to Morero and member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for the environment and infrastructure services department Jack Sekwaila to “once again implore them to intervene in the dire situation”.
“The absence of a full-time city manager and clear instructions to heads of departments clearly contribute to the chaos currently happening. The DA will be conducting oversights over several areas badly affected by the water outage. We will do whatever is necessary to hold the mayor and his executive accountable for the water crisis and the subsequent job losses as a result,” she said.
Morero has been approached for comment, which will be added once received.
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