THE last few weeks have been hell for Gauteng residents who had had to queue for water until the early hours of the morning.
The country's largest city has experienced water supply problems that have affected a lot of households.
According to the 2023 Blue Drop Report, 47% of Joburg’s water revenue is lost due to leaks.
Duduzile Zulu, a domestic worker from Diepsloot who works in Randburg, says her workplace has been without water for three weeks due to a burst pipe.
However, the water supply has since been restored, but the pipe is still leaking, which is very worrying, she said.
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“Working under these conditions is hard, especially when you have to clean the house, bathe and cook. We have to wait for the water tanker to come so we can fill the buckets. I don’t know what will happen because now there's water, but the pipe is still leaking,” Duduzile said.
Another resident, Kwandzalikhaya Nkosi, was worried about hygiene: “In March, we had no water for 10 days. The water tankers come, but don't stay long. You can't use the bathtub. You have to use the old bucket and heat up the water. I think we also have to think about hygiene in situations like these."
Joburg is known as a "world-class African city"," but a lack of basic services makes many residents angry.
Almost half of the population has been without water for weeks or experiences water shortages. With the national elections due on 29 May, the governing party could be punished for this.
Another resident, Peter Mcunu, said: “This is nonsense. Water is a basic need. Next, they'll want us to vote for them, but they can’t give us water.”
In March, parts of Joburg were without water for 13 days. This was triggered by two incidents at Rand Water's Eikenhof pumping station due to power outages at City Power's substations. The affected areas included Soweto, Randburg, Roodepoort, Joburg South and especially Central. While the water slowly returned in other areas, Randburg suffered drastically.
Joburg Water's operations manager, Logan Munsamy, explained that a valve that fed into the main system was closed, which worsened the already limited water supply.
Water expert, Richard Meissner said the city is currently dealing with a complex system that is not affected by one problem.
He blamed outdated infrastructure, burst pipes, water leaks, illegal connections as well as theft and vandalism.
Meissner said illegal water connections and an unstable political coalition lead to operational conflicts in the political spheres (councillors and mayor) and Joburg Water are to blame.
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He said almost R1,2 trillion has been allocated to tackle the water crisis in the country between 2021 and 2030 and it is now up to the government's willingness to spend the money.
But in Freedom Park, Soweto, some residents' homes are sitting in kak as they are faced with raw sewage leakages.
“The problem here is that we're overpopulated. Municipalities and street vendors don't care about our community. They dump waste material into the sewerage system.
"These drains then get blocked and when it rains, streets get flooded with sewage and it stinks,” said Nomathemba Gongxa.
