Cape Town experienced a near brush with “day zero” in 2018 — it came as a result of a once in 400 to 590-year weather event, a rare drought.
The drought had an impact on one city only, but the management of it and the manner in which the city rapidly shifted consumer behaviour to avert day zero will be studied for years to come.
The imminent water crisis in Gauteng cannot be compared with the natural event that occurred in Cape Town back then. This crisis is largely man-made — as a result of mismanagement and ineptitude of various levels of government going back 20 years at the municipal level.
First, the national department of water under former minister Nomvula Mokonyane, stalled and thwarted the rollout of phase two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, allegedly due to attempts at corruption, resulting in the project’s completion being delayed by a decade. The amount of water available to Rand Water will be limited until the project comes on stream.
Second, according to Rand Water, the cities of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane account for 77% of its demand (the province as a whole accounts for nearly 85%). They are using too much water. Johannesburg is using 13.7% more water than its target, Ekurhuleni is 27% over its target and Tshwane is 17.5% above its consumption target.
Third, illegal water connections through tapping directly into Rand Water infrastructure is a huge problem, illegal mining also heavily affects water supply in certain areas.
Last, but crucially, municipalities are losing huge volumes of water supplied to them by Rand Water to leaks due to poorly maintained water infrastructure. Residents pay for water monthly, yet resources are channelled elsewhere instead of being spent on maintenance.
In the early stages of our local government system, the utilities — water, electricity and waste — used to be the core business of any municipality. Johannesburg Water, at its establishment and in the immediate aftermath, performed well. However, municipalities quickly realised what a money-spinner the utility was. As a result, they took back the billing function. Water was no longer a ring-fenced item — and the revenue it raised was no longer channelled back into maintaining infrastructure, but scattered around various other — often vanity — projects for the metro.
Water, over the years, became downgraded to a simple technical office in various municipalities without adequate resources to properly maintain or replace ageing infrastructure. It is now a problem spanning some 20 years.
Here we can make a comparison to the City of Cape Town’s ability to avert day zero: even before the threat of drought, water was a huge priority for the city — its budget annually to repair water meters (a critical site of water losses) was R300m. Not one city in Gauteng has a comparable budget for this, it is simply not a priority.
What is even more worrying is that municipalities are not paying Rand Water on time and are in arrears, putting further pressure on the system by damaging the bulk water supplier’s balance sheet.
In a presentation by Rand Water to Gauteng municipal officials and politicians at an imbizo in September, it revealed that Johannesburg Water and the Ekurhuleni metro had not honoured two separate payment arrangements made to settle the debt. Only the City of Tshwane is currently honouring its payment arrangement. The municipalities in Gauteng take a staggering 89 days on average to pay their water invoices which has a ripple effect on Rand Water’s ability to perform.
The bottom line is Rand Water is over-extracting water from the Vaal Dam to meet demand, mostly from Gauteng. It is extracting 1,680-million cubic metres (Mm³) a year, when it is only authorised to extract 1,347Mm³ a year. It is not being paid on time and its infrastructure is being neglected.
Rand Water appealed to the municipalities for just two things: pay us on time and reduce consumption.
However, doing this requires leadership from municipalities — which they have shown they are woefully unable to provide. The ANC’s former puppet mayor in Johannesburg Kabelo Gwamanda was this week arrested for fraud and its current mayor Dada Morero is offering funding of R1m to residents who can come up with ideas to fix the city.
Here’s a thought: why doesn’t he fix the city’s water infrastructure network for starters and settle his Rand Water debt?
The ANC’s timing in removing puppet mayors and fronting councils with their own comrades could not be worse: Morero will face the electorate in 2026 as the mayor who presided over an unprecedented water crisis in the City of Gold. Poetic actually.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.