#WaterCrisis: Gauteng government has no plans in place to ensure residents have access to water during loadshedding

7 February 2023

As much as the supply of water to our residents is not a provincial competency but rather one of national government and municipalities it is vital that the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) play its part in assisting municipalities who are struggling to pump water to residents.

Gauteng residents can no longer depend on the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) to ensure that they have continued access to uninterrupted water supply during loadshedding.

This is despite the Office of the Premier setting up a war room which is meant to look at ways of ensuring that this province does not face day zero.

Our water crisis is not because of a drought but rather because of the ongoing loadshedding which is impacting Rand Water and all the municipalities’ ability to pump water to our residents.

Gauteng dams are full and there is no shortage of water, but the supply of water is negatively impacted because of loadshedding.

Rand Water and all the municipalities are therefore unable to pump water to our residents. The time between the power going off and coming back on is too short and is not enough for the reservoirs to fill up.

According to a reply to my questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to determine what plans have been put in place to ensure that our residents will always have water during loadshedding, it was revealed that a war room consisting of many experts was set up in 2018.

However, there is no plan from provincial government to mitigate and assist municipalities in discussions with Eskom.

Premier Panyaza Lesufi, claims that to ensure that there is water security in the province, some institutional review is needed.

Furthermore, the provincial government has not yet engaged with Rand Water concerning the upgrading of its infrastructure because Rand Water is a State-Owned-Entity (SOE).

The response from the Premier is very disheartening and clearly indicates that for as long as there is loadshedding, the water supply in the province will be affected.

A DA government will ensure that a strategy is put in place to deal with both loadshedding and water security in the province, so that our residents are not dependent on water tankers and that some relief is given from the ongoing loadshedding.

The DA has already received feedback from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) regarding our complaint lodged last year. The SAHRC has indicated that they met with Rand Water on 14th November 2022 and has given the entity time to respond to our issues raised in writing.

The DA once again urges all our residents to adhere to the current water restrictions that are in place to ensure that we reduce water usage.

Issued by Solly Msimanga, Official Leader of the Opposition- Gauteng, 7 February 2023