Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero says he has delivered on his promise to restore water within seven days. Picture: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers
JOBURG mayor Dada Morero on Friday declared that the entire city now has water after weeks of shortages and that he has fulfilled his promise to sort out the outages within seven days.
Morero visited Rand Water’s Eikenhof pump station in the south of Johannesburg a week ago after being accused by concerned residents and opposition parties of missing in action during the municipality’s weeks-long water crisis.
During his visit, Morero also promised that the city’s utility Johannesburg Water would restore water across all affected areas.
”Today (Friday) is the seventh day that we went to Eikenhof and water has been restored to everywhere in Johannesburg, even in Berea this morning, they all now have water,” he said.
Morero said, however, the City of Joburg is not at the level it wants to be in terms of water.
”We are pumping at about 50% and we are still requesting you to use water sparingly until we are pumping at about 80%, we think we will be more comfortable,” he explained.
Morero said dam levels were now at 85% thanks to the past week’s persistent rains.
The city has warned residents that abusing water could lead to the introduction of level two restrictions.
Level one restrictions were introduced in November last year.
Morero also indicated that Joburg Water will continue to address leaks or burst pipes timeously, and urged residents to put in place water-saving measures.
In the 2023/24 financial year, the City of Joburg recorded total water losses of 35% and they have increased due to an increased infrastructure failure rate, which is attributable to investment in infrastructure being lower than the required rate of replacement due to budget constraints.
Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke’s office found that material water losses amounted to just over R2.9 billion were incurred, with the level of physical losses sitting at almost R2.1bn, and that this was due to leaks on the water network infrastructure.
Commercial losses were at R812 million due to illegal connections, metering, and associated data transfer errors.
Meanwhile, Morero said he did not have the recording of a meeting of some of his colleagues plotting to sabotage his administration.
The Star reported that it was in possession of a recording of a group including mayoral committee members, ANC officials, and a Rand Water employee plotting against Morero and to sabotage water supply in the city to undermine his position.
”It was important for the executive mayor’s office to respond because these are serious allegations that have gone through to the media. Therefore, we have to ask because if you look at the nature of the allegations, (they) boil down to what is called treason because, in essence, you are interfering with national key points.”
He said the matter required the attention of law enforcement agencies whether the allegations were true or not.
”Competent institutions such as the law enforcement agencies have to confirm whether these things are there or not,” explained Morero.
He added that he could not just sit but had to take responsibility and ask relevant institutions if there is substance to the allegations.
loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za