The Gauteng Water Crisis Is a Self-Inflicted Leadership Failure

Dear Editor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) agrees with the admission by Minister Pemmy Majodina in the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation last night, that the current water crisis in Gauteng is indeed “self-inflicted” by the municipalities. Minister Majodina’s remarks reaffirm what the DA has long maintained: the water shortages in Gauteng are a result of poor governance, not natural causes.

The crisis is not due to drought but rather due to the failure of municipalities to perform basic maintenance and address the rampant water losses from leaks, illegal connections, and poor financial management. This mismanagement has left Gauteng residents without reliable access to water, despite Rand Water providing adequate supply.

The DA echoes the frustration with the Gauteng leadership and highlights key points raised by Rand Water:

• Municipalities such as Emfuleni, Merafong, and Rand West owe billions of rands to Rand Water, and yet there has been no meaningful attempt to settle these debts or fix the infrastructure that causes water wastage; and
• The situation in informal settlements, where illegal connections proliferate, is out of control, and municipalities like Ekurhuleni and Lesedi are unable to stem the tide due to governance failures and lack of enforcement.

We call on these ANC-run municipalities to take immediate action, in line with the clear recommendations that have been made by both Rand Water and the National Government. This crisis could have been avoided if there had been the political will to fix what is broken.

In light of the severity of the situation, the DA reiterates our call for an urgent debate of national importance. Parliament must act to ensure that the national Water Task Team, under Deputy President Paul Mashatile, takes decisive and effective measures to hold municipalities accountable and ensure that residents’ basic right to water is not violated any longer.

This crisis, though severe, can still be managed, but only if immediate action is taken by Gauteng’s leadership.

Regards

Stephen Moore MP
DA Deputy Spokesperson on Water and Sanitation