Residents of Johannesburg have been left out to dry amid the water crisis in their city.
Build One South Africa (BOSA) notes with deep concern the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina’s dismissive reply to a written question by BOSA Deputy Leader, Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster MP, in which she states that national government will not intervene despite worsening and recurring water outages.
In her response, the Minister effectively rules out the use of Section 63 of the Water Services Act – a provision that allows national government to take over water services where municipalities are failing – citing constitutional, legal and budgetary constraints.
This is an admission that even as residents experience what is increasingly described as “water shedding”, national government is unwilling or unable to step in.
The Minister concedes that water demand in Gauteng is at times exceeding available supply, and acknowledges that decades of municipal underinvestment, infrastructure decay, and excessive water losses have left the system vulnerable to collapse. Yet despite this, no decisive intervention is forthcoming.
Instead, the Minister points to structural limitations. Water services are a municipal competency; intervention under Section 139 of the Constitution is temporary and largely ineffective; and the department lacks both the budget and legal authority to take over critical functions such as billing, revenue collection, and infrastructure management.
BOSA finds this unsettling. It suggests that while the law provides for intervention on paper, in practice it is hollow. Residents are trapped between failing municipalities and a national government that cannot act.
South Africans deserve clarity and honestly. If Section 63 cannot be meaningfully implemented, then government must urgently explain what mechanism exists to protect residents when municipalities fail to deliver a basic constitutional right.
The Minister’s reliance on the Presidential Johannesburg Working Group and a yet-to-be-implemented action plan offers little reassurance. Plans do not keep taps running. Accountability, urgency, and execution does.
While long-term supply interventions such as Phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project are only expected by 2028, residents are being left to endure ongoing disruptions with no clear relief in sight.
BOSA reiterates that access to water is a fundamental human right, not a conditional service dependent on bureaucratic limitations or intergovernmental disputes.
We call on the Minister to:
- Clearly define the conditions under which national intervention will occur
- Provide a concrete, time-bound plan to stabilise water supply in Johannesburg
- And outline immediate measures to protect residents from ongoing outages.
The people of Johannesburg cannot be left to navigate a collapsing system alone
Media Enquiries:
Roger Solomons
BOSA Spokesperson
072 299 3551