The City of Johannesburg has increasingly become a “city of thirst” as ongoing water shortages continue to plague residents across the metro, from townships to informal settlements, leading to growing frustration over what many describe as a deepening crisis.
While water supply issues across the metro have persisted for years, residents say the situation has worsened.
Fed-up residents say that despite repeated appeals, they say little meaningful intervention has been made to address the problem.
Many townships and informal settlements continue to experience dry taps for three days or more, and in some instances, residents go nearly a week without water coming from the taps.
Just when residents start to hope for improvements, they say conditions take a sharp turn for the worse.
“This puts our lives under serious pressure,” said Jermina Machaka, a resident of Zandspruit’s Vukuzenzele Section in northern Johannesburg.
Machaka, who has lived in the area since 1997, said the problem of dry taps began in 2020, around the time COVID-19 hit South Africa.
“When that virus hit the country, that’s when we started to experience the problem of water not coming from the taps during the day,” she said.
According to Machaka, water is only available during the night.
“When we’re supposed to be sleeping, we have to go fetch water from the street. I have taps in front of my yard, but when I hear people talking at night and making noise with buckets, I wake up and go get water,” she said.
Machaka said on Thursday, she had to wake at 11.30 p.m to fetch water for laundry.
“I stayed up until 1a.m, because the queue was long. We’ve raised this issue several times with the ward committees to escalate it to the relevant authorities, but our pleas fall on deaf ears,” she told News.
She was blunt in her criticism of city officials and Joburg Water.
“They have failed us…Even when they install water tanks, they put them far from us. We, the elderly, are the ones suffering the most,” she said.
She said they have only one water tank serving the section, which residents say is inadequate given the size and population of the area.
“They should place a tank on every street. We’re pensioners, we can’t walk far to fetch water. Sometimes the tank is not even filled,” Machaka added.
Machaka said she sometimes pays R10 per bucket for others to collect water on her behalf.
Another senior resident, Ellen Shuping-Hlongwane, 66, who has been staying in the area since 1999, shared a similar story.
“I have to send young people to fetch water for me, and I usually pay R50 per bucket,” she said.
Shuping-Hlongwane attributed part of the problem to illegal connections made by residents in lower-lying parts of Zandspruit, claiming that some tamper with water pipes after repairs are made.
“After Joburg Water fixes the pipes, those people go and disconnect them again so that the water flows to their area. The city needs to deploy security to stop that from happening,” she said.
Ward 114 Councillor David Mangena acknowledged the issue, saying the water shortage is not unique to Zandspruit but affects areas across South Africa.
“I’m aware of the problem and have lodged complaints with Joburg Water. They promised to send technicians,” he told News.
Asked about the placement of one water tank and its inconsistent refilling, Mangena said he was unaware of who installed it or why it was not regularly maintained.
He confirmed reports of land invasions and illegal water connections.
“Those who invaded the land connected themselves illegally. That’s why those higher up don’t have water,” he said.
Mangena added that Joburg Water representatives recently attended a community meeting at the Emthonjeni Community Centre to address residents’ concerns.
However, when asked about long-term plans to resolve the crisis, he deferred responsibility.
“That question must be directed to Joburg Water. They work according to their budget,” he said.
Despite attempts, News did not receive a response from Joburg Water.
The entity requested reference numbers typically issued when residents report issues directly, something that residents said they instead brought to the ward councillor.
A few minutes from Zandspruit, residents in Cosmo City are also experiencing water shortages.
Unity Motopa, 28, from Cosmo City Extension 4, said they began facing interruptions in March.
“It really affects us. We can’t do laundry or flush toilets. Sometimes the water’s off from 8 a.m to 8 p.m,” he said.
Motopa said he has spent up to R300 buying bottled water when taps run dry.
He said they had reported the issue to Ward 100 Councillor Lyborn Ndou, who lives in the area, but said nothing has been done to address the issue.
News visited Ndou’s offices in the area on Thursday and Friday, however, he was nowhere to be found.
Earlier this month, Joburg Water said theft and vandalism of water infrastructure were severely hampering service delivery.
The utility cited burst pipes, aging systems, and illegal connections as key contributors to the crisis.
“Vandalism is compromising service delivery and endangering public safety. Tragically, missing manhole covers have led to fatalities,” said Mzakhe Mtshweni, Joburg Water’s general manager for operations.
Mtshweni added that the entity spends about R20,000 daily to clear sewer blockages caused by improper disposal of foreign objects.
To address the crisis, Joburg Water is implementing enhanced security at high-risk sites, including improved lighting, real and dummy CCTV cameras, and smart manhole covers equipped with sensors. The entity is also working with Johannesburg Metro Police for rapid response efforts.
“Lasting change requires community cooperation to prevent damage and ensure sustainable service delivery,” Mtshweni said.
On Wednesday, during the State of the City Address (SOCA), City of Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero committed to enhancing water security, citing an R40.3 million project to build a 10-megalitre reservoir in Carlswald.
He also said the city plans to use artificial intelligence to detect leaks but did not elaborate on broader efforts to address decaying infrastructure and rampant losses from aging systems.
Although some initiatives are underway, residents say the crisis is far from over and fear that the lack of urgency from officials means more dry days ahead.
The water crisis continues to impact not just Johannesburg, but other provinces including Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal, where communities also grapple with unreliable water access.
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