Gauteng
Some of Joburg’s residents who have been protesting released “The People’s report” on Friday.
They wrote “Joburg Water, Gauteng municipalities, and government leaders have utterly failed the people of Gauteng.
Dry taps for weeks—some areas hitting 20-27 days without water—while billions of litres leak away through crumbling, outdated pipes and zero real maintenance. Experts and reports scream the truth: this crisis is infrastructure-driven, not just “high demand.”
The group is also calling for accountability to fix ageing systems, non-revenue water losses and decades of neglect.
The Gauteng Provincial Government admitted the cause of recent water supply shortages, is a combination of ageing infrastructure, high demand, leaks, interrupted water supply and maintenance of backlogs.
Jacob Mamabolo, MEC of Infrastructure and Cooperative Governance (Cogta), met with the Metros in Gauteng and key stakeholders, to determine interventions.
They are to maintain and upgrade infrastructure, pressure management and demand control, technical support to Municipalities, funding and resource mobilisation and community engagement.
Mpumalanga
The Chief Albert Luthuli Municipality informed residents of interrupted water supply, following a broken mainline pipe at the Eesterhoek Water Treatment Works.
Affected areas are Nhlazatshe no. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
The time and date of restoration is not yet known, but the Municipality said its technical team remains on site.
While onsite, the team also noticed a blockage in the pipeline, was caused by stones.
Mbombela
Protesters marched from Umjindini township, in Barberton to the City of Mbombela offices, demanding water supply.
The residents also want allocation of land for housing.
Cathy Venter, Court Manager, informed users of the Court, that the High Court was inaccessible due to protest action in Mbombela.
Matters set down to be heard on Friday, were postponed.
eThekwini
uMngeni uThukela Water Board announced an increasing presence of algae at the Durban Heights Water Treatment Works.
This has led to losses of water at the plant.
Algae also affects the functioning of filters and sludge.
The restoration date and time was not supplied, leaving parts of the City without water.
Sol Plaatje Municipality
The Municipality said water supply was restored to some suburban in Kimberley and Galeshewe, following interrupted supply.
Thabo Mothibi, Spokesperson of the Municipality, said in a statement, “the contractor working on the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI) water improvement programme has completed connecting a newly installed pipe in the Rhodesdene area to the water supply network ahead of schedule.
Areas receiving water are Soul City, Club 2000, Madiba Park, Tlhageng, Tswelopele Correctional Centre, Rhodes Avenue and Verwoerdpark.
OR Tambo District
The Municipality said the majority of existing water schemes across KSD are functional, including Thornhill Water Treatment Works, the Mhlahlane Water Treatment Works, and numerous borehole and weir-based rural schemes serving villages.
The Thornhill system serves urban wards from Ngangelizwe and Ikwezi to Norwood, Fortgale, Hillcrest, Polar Park and surrounding areas.
The Mhlahlane system serves the Airport Corridor and peri-urban communities.
Picture: Supplied