The water crisis in and around Johannesburg has not only put pressure on a failing government to start finding interventions, but it has also revealed that the crisis, much like load-shedding in past years, will be used as an electioneering campaign strategy.
This week, DA federal council chair and mayoral candidate Helen Zille was seen touring the streets of Johannesburg in search of areas where gallons of water are leaking from pipes. At the same time, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula took to social media in an attempt to manage the damage caused to his party’s image by the water crisis.
TimesLIVE has reported on several areas where communities have been without water for several weeks. In Midrand, north of Johannesburg, images of community members flocking to municipal taps to access water went viral on social media.
The water crisis has been further compounded by an ill-equipped government, which has failed to address its ailing infrastructure, instead opting for a quick fix for a decades-long problem.
In Tshwane, water losses have increased from 32% to 40%, with 40 litres of every 100 litres purchased from Rand Water wasted through leaks.
Spending on water tankers as an emergency measure in the same metro increased by 500% in the 2024/25 financial year.
The problem in Johannesburg is much more severe. On Thursday morning, the deputy minister of water and sanitation revealed that soft water restrictions, water shedding, load shifting and water cuts could soon become a reality for residents.
Last week, Rand Water raised concerns about persistently high water consumption in Gauteng. The entity claimed that the above-normal consumption had exceeded the allocated volumes, and continues to place significant strain on the overall water supply network.
Rand Water said demand is forcing the system to operate under pressure, stretching infrastructure capacity to accommodate abnormally high usage levels. On Sunday, the Johannesburg water system began cutting down across the entire network, and supply dropped to around 23%.
Water shortages have long been an issue affecting many parts of South Africa, and while the DA plans to use the crisis as a springboard during campaigning, the crisis is not just in Gauteng — it has long been one of national proportions. Makada in the Eastern Cape and Knysna, where the DA governs, are just two examples of areas where residents live on borrowed time.
This week, Zille and her counterparts disingenuously tried to make it appear that the water shortages were limited to Gauteng and an incompetent ANC leadership. DA leaders blamed the ANC for the crisis despite their participation in the government of national unity.
Zille said Cape Town, where the DA governs, had made a huge investment in water maintenance and infrastructure, claiming this was due to little to no corruption in its governance structures.
“All the consequences you see in the collapse of the Joburg water system and the Tshwane water system, the Ekurhuleni water system, are a consequence of people’s political choices. That’s what it is, nothing else … It’s people’s right to choose whether they want more of the same, whether they want change,” she said.
“How you vote is directly linked to how you live. How you vote is directly linked to the quality of services you get, and therefore the quality of your life, especially at the local level. It is not an abstract thing. It is something directly linked to the way you live ... Anywhere in Cape Town, you can turn on a tap and get clean, fresh drinking water. It is because of the political choice that people made.”
What Zille failed to take stock of during her pitch to the people of Gauteng was the DA’s involvement in the GNU. The DA can no longer hide behind its track record in the Western Cape.
Cape Town is facing its own water challenges. On Tuesday, the city called on residents to urgently reduce water consumption “due to a problem with valves on one of the city’s major reservoirs”.
The ANC is not without blame, and the tone deafness of its leaders, such as water and sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina and Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, leaves a bitter taste in residents’ mouths.
Lesufi’s faux pas, when he said that he had access to hotels when faced with water cuts, demonstrated how far the ANC has deviated from its agenda of serving the people.
The water challenges are a combination of years of infrastructural neglect, incompetence and lack of political will. The ANC is certainly to blame, having held power for 30 years.
But whether Zille and her colleagues would like to admit this fact, being a part of government means it is a part of its successes and its failures. People no longer want to see political point scoring. It’s time for the GNU partners to come up with implementable solutions that will end their anguish.
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