Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has called for calm in communities as the province’s water crisis continues, insisting that government leaders are experiencing the same hardships as residents.
On Wednesday, Lesufi, flanked by Minister of Water and Sanitation Pammy Majodina and her deputy David Mahlobo, visited reservoir sites and briefed residents on progress made to address ongoing water outages in the province.
Addressing frustrated communities, Lesufi dismissed claims that political leaders receive preferential treatment during the crisis.
“People think that if there’s no water, ourselves and our families we’ve got special water, we don’t. In some instances I had to go to a certain hotel so that I bath to go to my commitments,” he said.
No special arrangement for officials
He reiterated that there are no special arrangements for government officials.
“We also go through the same inconveniences as other people. We don’t have water when communities don’t have water. But we’ve got the responsibility to fix the problem,” Lesufi said.
Majodina attributed the crisis in part to overconsumption and non-payment for water services across the province.
Non-payment by residents
“There is over consumption of water in Gauteng, most of the municipalities are affected. And that’s because of the growing population. It’s not a deliberate move to deny the people of Gauteng water,” she said.
She further alleged widespread non-payment in illegally occupied buildings. Even though most suburbs that are affected are those where citizens pay diligently for services.
“In all the hijacked buildings they use water and they don’t pay for the water,” Majodina said.
The minister also raised concerns about the state of infrastructure. She warned that the system is under severe pressure.
System over-strained
“The system of Rand Water is over-strained and any system that is over-strained collapses. I don’t have the powers to declare the water outages as a national disaster,” she added.
Majodina said an estimation of R400-billion is needed to repair and upgrade water infrastructure at local government level. Funding that is currently unavailable.
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille announced on Wednesday that the party will be taking Joburg Water and the City of Johannesburg to court over the crisis.
Zille, who is running for mayor of Johannesburg, said the water shortages are the result of political decisions made by voters, describing the crisis as a consequence of people’s political choices.
