Note to editors: Please find attached English soundbite by Nico De Jager MPL.
Over the past week, residents, and businesses in Limbro Park, Modderfontein, Greenstone, Founders View, Lombardy East, Kew, and surrounding areas have again been hit by prolonged water outages. In Founders View, one business reports losses exceeding R1 million in three months because of recurring water interruptions.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) demands a credible, funded infrastructure recovery plan from Johannesburg Water and the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Jacob Mamabolo, that puts infrastructure renewal, maintenance, and capital investment ahead of political promises and crisis management.
One particular business reported that they had been without water for at least 48 hours despite numerous calls being logged and escalated to Johannesburg Water. This is one business. Hundreds more operating across these industrial and commercial areas face the same problem.
Johannesburg’s water crisis is no longer only a service delivery failure. It is becoming an economic crisis costing businesses millions, threatening jobs and driving investment out of the city where unemployment is already at 35.9% according to Stats SA.
For businesses, a dry tap is not only an inconvenience. It costs money. Production stops and staff cannot work. Businesses must buy and transport water to continue operations. Sanitation becomes impossible. Customers are lost, and operating costs climb. Yet these same businesses are expected to keep paying rates, taxes and service charges to a city that increasingly cannot guarantee them water or electricity.
This is what infrastructure collapse looks like in the real economy. Enough money is not being invested in replacing and maintaining Johannesburg’s failing water infrastructure. Johannesburg needs massive, sustained capital investment, accelerated pipe replacement and preventative maintenance.
Compounding the crisis is the lack of reliable communication, leaving residents and businesses unable to plan around prolonged water outages. The DA has repeatedly warned that Gauteng’s water infrastructure collapse would become the next load-shedding crisis. That crisis is no longer coming. It is here.
The DA’s Infrastructure Master Plan offers a clear path to restoring reliable services through infrastructure investment, preventative maintenance, upgrading ageing networks and accountability. Johannesburg cannot rebuild its economy without rebuilding its infrastructure. The DA has a plan to do exactly that.