Joburg’s month-long water shutdown: ‘Where is the mayor? Where is City of Joburg?’
As residents of Joburg brace for intermittent water supply for 37 days due to “extensive maintenance” by Rand Water on its infrastructure, concerned activists are calling for heightened communication from the City of Joburg as the situation can potentially cause panic among community members.
IOL reported earlier this week that the extensive maintenance will impact water supply to Joburg Water's systems supplied by the Palmeit and Eikenhof pump stations, as well as the Daleside Booster station.
Rand Water, the bulk water supplier, announced that it will undertake an extensive proactive maintenance of its infrastructure from June 22 to July 29.
Rand Water said the initiative was to preserve the quality and integrity of the infrastructure and to extend its lifespan.
Following that, Joburg Water issued a statement cautioning residents about reduced water pressure due to maintenance affecting Rand Water's systems.
However, Dr Ferrial Adam, executive manager at non-profit-organisation WaterCAN said communities were understandably concerned based on previous experiences.
“The thing that people are not trusting is that it has been difficult to follow clear dates before, so when things have gone down – and the Eikenhof pump is one of them, it affects a large population of Johannesburg,” said Adam in an interview with broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
“If something goes wrong, how do we know that they will communicate properly and this is not going to be an extended thing? This is the concern people have,” she said.
“What needs to happen, to alleviate this, is better communication and just being out there. Tell us every single day – that we are now starting at Eikenhof, it should take us five days, this is what is happening, send the media the pictures … do whatever you need to do so that people can feel relaxed.
“It is when you do not have information that you panic,” she said.
Adam added that Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda should be more visible, interacting with communities during this period.
“Where is City of Joburg? Where is the mayor on this? Joburg Water reports to the City of Joburg. We just need to see an organised kind of war-room approach where Rand Water, Joburg Water and City of Joburg are dealing with this, they are on it, they are going to be handling it, informing people, having more transparency and information,” she said.
In March, The Star reported that City of Johannesburg could take up to 10 years to resolve its water problems that have rocked the country’s economic capital in recent years.
At the time, the city had been scrambling to find solutions to its water woes that left scores of residents across the municipality with dry taps for 10 days.
IOL