Neelam Rahim / neelam@radioislam.co.za

2-minute read
17 February 2023 / 13:44 CAT

Image: Sowetan Live

Outa’s WaterCAN and the Joburg Water Crisis Committee believe the City of Johannesburg’s water entity, Johannesburg Water, is not addressing the water crisis with the urgency it requires. They also accused the entities of not keeping the public informed.

WaterCAN is an initiative of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse or OUTA. The Joburg Water Crisis Committee was formed around November 2022 by residents in and around Melville.

In conversation with Radio Islam International, Joburg Water Crisis Committee member Jairaj Chetty said the Committee plans to engage with the City Council and Joburg Water directly.

The community currently faces the second round of water outages while the excuses from the city council and Joburg Water includes the victimization of load shedding, as per Chetty.

Furthermore, it is seen that the expenditure on the maintenance of infrastructure needs to be improved, as seen from the 2020 and 2021 reports. The latest report has yet to be released.

Chetty expressed that residents may not be water experts but would like to engage with the powers openly and transparently, which has yet to be the experience.

WaterCAN has conducted research and found in the 2020/2021 annual report Joburg Water claims an asset base of 13 billion at the total value of infrastructure. According to the national treasury, 8/ of the value would calculate an expenditure of 1 billion on infrastructure around 2020/2021. The annual report shows an expenditure of much less, at 160 million.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie.