Water outages have become an increasingly common reality for many South African households, with some communities going days or even weeks without a reliable supply. The crisis has intensified across the country, with Johannesburg residents often enduring multi-day outages without warning or water tankers, sparking fresh outrage, while water protests have erupted in various provinces. Minister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina previously pointed to multiple factors driving the crisis.
“Municipalities are unable to fill reservoirs due to leaks and poor maintenance,” she said in September. The minister has also raised concerns about “water mafia” networks, saying water infrastructure projects face sabotage. “We are working with Saps to address this…These criminal elements are sabotaging essential water delivery,” she said.
In response to the escalating situation, Majodina called for municipalities to procure their own water tankers rather than relying on contractors. She revealed that Johannesburg acquired 20 municipal water tankers. “We started in March to encourage all the municipalities that have contracts for water tankers to start negotiating out of that contract.
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Let municipalities insource their water tankering,” she said. Whether caused by infrastructure failures, maintenance work, drought conditions, or criminal interference, these disruptions demand proactive preparation and smart water management from households. The most crucial step is building a water reserve before an outage hits.
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