Water is the question, DA is not the answer
Two weeks ago after 23 days, Melville residents laced their tekkies and toyi-toyi’d against Joburg Water. The next day, many of the residents reported that they had water again and its been flowing freely since. In Northgate, a friend is not renewing her lease because of intermittent water supply.
I was with her when she went house-hunting. The main question she wanted answered in each of the three neighbourhoods was, “how often do you have water cuts?” I ask in the family group whether everyone has water. In Dobsonville, my cousin Nombulelo has not had water for two weeks.
On the other hand, my cousin Phumzile in Ekurhuleni tells me they are fine and have no problems. Also alright is my Aunt Pam and away from the family group, my friend Mandla both in Tshwane. What all these people have in common across the three metros is that their water is supplied by Rand Water so why the disparities in supply?
A TikTok video that has been doing the rounds has the Democratic Alliance’s Chair and Johannesburg Mayoral candidate Helen Zille with her legs in the water in Linbro Park highlighting a leakage that has not been repaired with Ms. Zille stating, “Now you will know that Rand Water is throttling Joburg Water to make sure that you use less water when you haven’t even got water in your pipes. This is because Joburg Water says that the average user in Joburg uses double the amount of the international average. I don’t believe that for a minute.”
Colour me surprised because I actually agree with Ms. Zille that we Joburgers do not use twice as much as the international average.
But she and her Democratic Alliance are not the answer. Remember 11 years ago when there was a Day Zero fear in Cape Town? Back then, people in the City of Cape Town did what was asked to save water including five minute showers and flushing with recycled water.
The City added a 30 percent bill to Cape Town consumers which included a fixed water rate and fixed electricity rate. They made a lot of money which they claimed to have used on desalination plants and some plants were built but now Cape Town is talking Day Zero again and those desalination plants and the job they should have done are nowhere to be found and Cape Town is back to water restrictions.
And the people in suburbia in Cape Town are complaining so spare a thought for those the DA consider unimportant in the peripheries. With that out of the way, we still have a Joburg Water problem. What possible solutions can there be?
Blue Lines, Red Lines, Green Lines
A February 26, 2026 Media Statement fact sheet from Rand Water shows the three metros and three lines. A green line, red line and a blue line. The green line shows the target to ensure sustainable water supply. The red line is the agreed water consumption between each metro and the bulk water supplier, Rand Water.
When the Blue Line falls below the red line, the metro is using its water as per licensing agreement. When it falls above, it means the municipality is using more water than it should. I highlight this to explain why I understand now the family water narratives I began with. Ekurhuleni Metro where my cousin Phumzile stays does not have water problems precisely because Ekurhuleni adheres to its agreement in spite of all its other failures as a municipality. Their blue line is at, or below, the red line consistently. Tshwane and Johannesburg, on the other hand, are constantly above the red light. The difference on why Tshwane still has running taps while Johannesburg does not may actually only come down to infrastructure and payment.
Tshwane’s water is going to the people and Gauteng’s favourite Mayor, Nasiphi Moya will switch off taps when bills are not paid by the majority of bulk consumers who are usually big businesses. In Johannesburg on the other hand, we have broken infrastructure and a Joburg Water that will switch off ordinary consumers for a month’s late payment but ignore the big bills of big businesses who consume much more and once that money comes, they do not immediately pay to Rand Water risking the bulk water supplier shutting down as has happened with other water boards.
Additionally, if Joburg Water used the same amount of money on repairing infrastructure as they do on renting water trucks to placate residents so that we would not have water gushing down our streets through leakages as demonstrated by Ms. Zille, we could then move on to the discussion about conservation and turning off taps. Melville residents getting water less than 24 hours after their patience ran thin and protesting is Joburg Water showing that water can be made available if people demand for it. Dobsonville residents, on the other hand, have no more expectations of the City. It’s a dangerous place that Johannesburg Municipality finds itself in with these residents because this can only mean frustrated residents who will either choose to stay away from the polls because “it makes no difference anyway” or who will vote those currently in charge out.
Ms. Zille is playing politics, of course she is because she is a politician. But perhaps the politicians currently in charge of Johannesburg should do the same too and actually pretend they care and ensure we have water flowing consistently by repairing infrastructure before elections because this is going to hurt them and in the long run, all of us, when a possible DA Mayor hikes our rates and privatises our water supply.