Despite President’s Promise, Joburg Protesters Say They Still Have No Water

Louise Grenfell has lived in Melville since 1985. She brought a portable waterless toilet to the protest on Saturday morning, demanding that water be restored permanently in the area.

Fed-up with ongoing water outages, residents of Melville, Westdene and surrounding areas chanted, banged empty buckets and placed a makeshift toilet in the middle of Main and 4th Avenue on Saturday morning.

Residents say they’ve been without water for over a month despite promises by the City of Johannesburg that water supply would stabilise.

Earlier this month, we reported on Brixton resident Mauritz Preller who confronted Mayor Dada Morero and other Johannesburg Water officials about the lack of water in his neighbourhood. Residents have held other protests to demand a permanent solution to the water crisis in their neighbourhoods.

During his State of the Nation Address last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the establishment of a National Water Crisis Committee, which he will personally chair, to deal with the water supply challenges across the country.

But residents are sceptical that their water problems will be fixed anytime soon.

Jenny Gillies, 81, from Melville, said water returns to her taps briefly but gets cut off regularly without warning. “The situation is just frustrating for us. We are continuing to protest until we get a permanent solution,” said Gillies.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the establishment of a National Water Crisis Committee, which he will personally chair, to deal with the water supply challenges across the country.

Carl Spies, who works at the nearby university, said students have complained about the lack of water. Spies waved a placard reading, “Even hotels don’t have water,” in reference to Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi telling residents that he booked into a hotel to bathe when he has no water.

Spies said that his water returns intermittently but goes off for about 24 hours or more at a time.

The national government has granted Rand Water an urgent licence for the bulk supplier to draw more water from river systems to help stabilise the system in Gauteng.

According to News24, Rand Water is demanding a R2.4-billion deposit from Johannesburg Water due to late and missed payments by the council.

Residents also complain that when there is water, it is discoloured and smells foul.

Johannesburg Water said it is aware of the complaints and has begun investigating the matter, warning residents affected not to drink the tap water.

“A technical team has been dispatched to the affected areas to investigate the matter and collect water samples for urgent quality testing and analysis,” read a statement by Johannesburg Water.

According to the latest update from Johannesburg Water, the so-called Commando System and the Hursthill reservoirs, which supply areas like Melville, are still struggling to stabilise, with little to no supply expected for higher lying areas.

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