Rand Water’s failures leave tens of thousands of taps dry – it’s time to act!

28 June 2024

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng refuses to accept Rand Water’s failures any longer.

Yet again, tens of thousands of taps have run dry across Gauteng due to their negligence in ensuring adequate infrastructure. It has become evident that this state-owned entity is unable to provide the essential service that it was established for.

In October of 2023 the DA urged intervention from the then Minister of Water in Rand Water’s failing executive. Thousands signed a petition calling for the ousting of an ineffective executive – nothing happened.

Now, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and Mogale City’s taps are dry.

While we commend the infrastructure maintenance programme the entity has been running over the past few weeks, it might be too little too late.

In March of 2024 failures at Eikenhof Pump Station resulted in several weeks of dry taps across Gauteng. How have we come to accept this as a new normal? The powerhouse of the South African economy experiences water shortages at every turn.

Currently, Rand Water offers municipalities crisis management in the form of an insufficient amount of roaming water tankers as the solution to their failures. This slapstick approach to the province’s water crisis is what allows power outages, like the one at Zwartkopjes Booster Pumping Station, to endanger lives, dry up our taps, and in doing so confirm that the problems are obviously deeper than what the executive has let on.

Not only are taps in households running dry, but emergency services, specifically fire brigade stations are left without water to fill their tankers. Fire hydrants are also left dry during the highveld's fire season endangering lives and properties.

The DA calls for urgent action which must include a water indaba with all crucial stakeholders.

The people of Gauteng deserve immediate and full-blown transparency. The only way we can offer that, is by inviting the role players to the table. The DA invites the Rand Water executive, and their team to present their problems, and proposed solutions at a Water Indaba.

Gauteng, again, finds itself at a crossroads, and only through decisive leadership and action will we be able to lead the way through it.

Issued by Solly Msimanga, DA Gauteng Provincial Leader, 28 June 2024