Gauteng water crisis in the forefront as political parties challenge Lesufi’s Sopa promises

The speech did not provide sufficient detail on how the province would end the chronic water shortages, ActionSA said, while the Democratic Alliance said it lacked actionable and measurable plans to stabilise supply. In his address late on Monday, Lesufi acknowledged the severity of the crisis and apologised to residents affected by the outages, adding: “Water is life. We cannot allow a situation where our people go for days without this basic necessity.” Lesufi made bold commitments to fix the problems, including the provincial government putting aside about R750 million to stabilise supply in Johannesburg this year through new reservoirs, boosting stations and pipeline upgrades.

“We are committing significant resources to ensure that this matter is resolved and that our communities receive the reliable water supply they deserve,” he said. But the R750m is a fraction of theR7 billionthat Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero told theMail & Guardianlast week was needed to fix roughly 2 600km of infrastructure. Lesufi’s promises come after he was roundly criticised for remarking that he had, at times, used hotel facilities to shower during outages.

The comment drew backlash from opposition parties and residents. They said it reflected a disconnect from the plight of residents who had no alternative access to water. Gauteng has faced recurring water supply disruptions over the past two years, with residents in parts of Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and the West Rand reporting intermittent or prolonged outages.

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Municipalities have attributed the disruptions to ageing infrastructure, high demand, maintenance backlogs, power failures affecting pumping stations and system constraints linked to bulk supplier Rand Water. Responding to Lesufi’s address,ActionSAGauteng chairperson Funzi Ngobeni said the province required measurable plans and timelines to address ageing infrastructure and water losses, adding that residents needed “reliable water in their taps, not more promises”. “If businesses are still struggling with unreliable water, if residents still do not have consistent supply, then it is fair to ask whether the fundamentals are really in place,” Ngobeni said.

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