The Democratic Alliance (DA) extends its deepest condolences to the families of the 81-year-old resident and the 15-year-old child who tragically lost their lives during today’s protests over Johannesburg’s ongoing water outages.
No family should have to endure such needless loss, and it is unacceptable that residents are being forced into the streets to demand access to a basic human right.
These water outages, however, are not the result of a shortage of water, but rather the direct outcome of continued governance failures.
Johannesburg is losing nearly half of its water to leaks, burst pipes, and illegal connections – problems that are not attended to with the urgency they demand. These massive technical losses have pushed the City’s water consumption above the quota it is licensed to receive from Rand Water.
The DA demands that the comprehensive Infrastructure Masterplan we’ve been asking for, for years, be brought to the table without delay.
The only way to fix this issue, and ensure that residents never again have to take to the streets to have water in their taps, is by putting into work a feasible infrastructure masterplan.
Johannesburg deserves solutions, not excuses.