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Johannesburg Water Crisis: Mayor Addresses Outages, Sabotage Allegations
Before the recent heavy rains, Johannesburg residents struggled with scorching heat and widespread water outages that left taps dry across the city. The crisis escalated to the point where the Gauteng High Court had to shut down temporarily last Thursday due to the water shortage.
Johannesburg Executive Mayor Dada Morero addressed the issue at Johannesburg Water’s headquarters in Newtown on Friday, 21 February, shedding light on the supply disruptions and responding to allegations of political sabotage.
#JoburgLIVE: Mayor Dada Morero provides an update on the water supply situation in the City. Stay tuned for key insights! #JoburgUpdates ^MMhttps://t.co/1yHFNkhrI6
— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) February 21, 2025
The city’s recent water crisis was triggered by a series of power failures that crippled Rand Water’s pump stations, disrupting supply to multiple municipalities.
The first major disruption occurred on 10 and 11 February when power failures at the Eikenhof and Zwartkopjes pump stations reduced the city’s ability to pump water. The situation worsened on 11 February when a complete supply failure at Emfuleni Local Municipality’s transformer halted operations at Rand Water’s Vereeniging Water Treatment Plant.
This triggered a chain reaction, depleting reservoirs and cutting supply to areas including Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark, Sasolburg, Forest Hill, Yeoville, Benoni, and Eikenhof. Other affected municipalities included Emfuleni, Metsimaholo, Ngwathe, Rustenburg, Rand West, Merafong, Mogale City, and the cities of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.
Rand Water restored power to its Vereeniging plant within hours, but another outage that night caused further disruptions.
Mayor Morero explained: “Unlike electricity, which you can simply switch back on, water takes days to pump through the system. We estimated a seven-day recovery period, and while some areas got water back in three days, others took longer.”
However, additional failures delayed the recovery process:
- 16 February: The Lethabo power failure affected Zwartkopjes and Eikenhof pump stations.
- 18 February: The Vereeniging incident disrupted Eikenhof.
- 19 February: A City Power failure again impacted Eikenhof.
Johannesburg Water reported steady progress, with teams working to clear airlocks and restore supply. Additional emergency teams have been approved to tackle backlogs, and the city is recruiting fitters, welders, and bricklayers to boost maintenance capacity.
Efforts to Manage Water Loss and Consumption
To mitigate future shortages, Johannesburg Water has implemented several water loss reduction measures, including:
- Pressure-reducing valve (PRV) maintenance.
- Establishing new pressure management zones.
- Proactive leak detection.
- Stricter enforcement of water by-laws.
Since 8 November 2024, Johannesburg Water has been rationing supply on a rotational basis to curb high consumption and aid system recovery. Some areas have even had their pumping halted to reduce demand.
Morero reminded residents that Johannesburg remains under Level 1 water restrictions and warned that continued wastage could lead to stricter Level 2 restrictions.
“With the recent heavy rains, we urge residents to harvest rainwater whenever possible,” he said. “Now more than ever, we must change our water usage habits. Even small daily changes can make a significant difference.”
When questioned about focusing on household consumption while a quarter of treated water is lost to leaks, Morero acknowledged the issue: “It’s a combination of leaks and consumption. We can measure household usage, so we’re asking residents to cut down while we raise funds to fix leaks. It’s a two-way process.”
Johannesburg Water is facing scrutiny over a controversial R263-million water tanker tender awarded to two relatively unknown companies, Nutinox and Builtpro Construction.
Morero confirmed that Johannesburg Water’s management is under investigation for potential corruption in the deal. The case is currently before the courts, and internal auditors are conducting a probe.
Beyond technical failures, Morero also addressed explosive claims of political sabotage. According to a report in The Star, an alleged secret meeting was recorded where two mayoral committee members, two ANC officials, and a Rand Water representative discussed plans to undermine Morero’s leadership by disrupting Johannesburg’s water supply.
The alleged goal was to portray the mayor as incapable of managing water supply, making the city appear ungovernable.
“These damning allegations will not be taken lightly,” Morero said. “We will seek legal counsel and consider approaching law enforcement agencies for a full investigation should these claims prove credible.”
With water supply stabilizing, Johannesburg’s leadership remains under pressure to prevent future outages and restore public trust.
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