Joburg Water Board must be dissolved, says DA

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for the dissolution of the Johannesburg Water Board amid the latest water crisis in the city.

Large parts of Johannesburg have been without water since Tuesday.

This is due to a power failure that disrupted pumping at the Emfuleni Substation at Rand Water’s Forest Hill and Eikenhof pump stations.

Rand Water has attributed the supply disruptions to demand exceeding capacity.

DA’s Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services (EISD), Tyrell Meyers, says this crisis could have been avoided if there had been better communication.

“Residents have again woken up in the last few days to no water and we are also deeply concerned by the absenteeism of the executive Mayor, Dada Morero, and the MMC for EISD, councillor Jack Sekwaila. Eighty percent of the City of Johannesburg is literally without water. It cannot go on. And this whole process and disaster could have been mitigated better had there been better communication. So, we need competent people in the Johannesburg Water Board to oversee this.”

Water Crisis | Joburg suburbs without water: 

Meanwhile, some residents have taken to social media to complain about the water crisis in the city.

Johannesburg Water says it is looking into the matter.

Yesterday, the DA called on Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson to consider including municipalities in Gauteng in his infrastructure support programme to tackle water infrastructure challenges.

The party says the system status report that Johannesburg Water published on Tuesday shows critical reservoir levels across multiple regions in the province.