Johannesburg’s water crisis is a failure of governance

Contrary to what Joburg Water said yesterday, the biggest and wealthiest city in the land does not have a water crisis – it has a governance crisis.

And, without wanting to sound like apologists for apartheid, this collapse of water delivery is directly related to the fact that for most of the time since 1994, the ANC has been in charge of the city.

In that position, though, its focus has been on providing cushy jobs for connected cadres and on siphoning – to use a water-related metaphor – cash from the once endless ratepayer reservoir.

Even the theft may have been tolerable were it not at the massive level it is – and if successive provincial and municipal administrations had done basic civil engineering demand forecasts and infrastructure maintenance and expansion planning.

Yet, the current situation is this: 28 out of 61 reservoirs and towers in the city are now at critically low levels or completely without water. About 350 areas are affected, the water utility admitted yesterday.

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Unsurprisingly, in passing on this grim news, the officials at Johannesburg sought, once again, to pass the buck and blame on to consumers, urging them to use water sparingly – as if we regularly have wet T-shirt contests in our streets using water from our hoses.

Blame is being tossed around like a hand grenade with the pin pulled out. Now there’s a suggestion that power failures are partly to blame.

The DA’s Nico de Jager had some useful solutions: set up independent power suppliers at all major pump stations using solar and battery systems; upgrade the ageing infrastructure by incorporating smart pressure management systems and create a rapid response unit trained to handle infrastructure emergencies.

And they have also asked their infrastructure minister, Dean Macpherson, for help.

We doubt any comrades are listening, though.

NOW READ: 7 water reservoirs critically low in Joburg: Warning of little to no water in these 370 areas