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Johannesburg's water crisis angers voters, drives rich off-grid
Residents face dry taps as burst pipes waste 655 million litres a day and the city’s budget crisis delays repairs, officials said.
- Dry taps have become a daily frustration for residents of Johannesburg, as the city loses an estimated 655 million litres of water daily through burst pipes, with much of the infrastructure over 50 years old.
- The National Treasury withheld funding from the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in July after the municipality failed to meet financial management requirements, with officials claiming the $6 billion budget is unfunded.
- Thandani Masangu, a 17-year-old student in Hillbrow, spent three hours wheeling containers through the neighborhood searching for water. "I feel really broken," Masangu said of the daily struggle.
- Wealthier residents in Gauteng province are increasingly drilling boreholes to bypass the municipality, with an estimated 10,000 installed over the past decade; Litigation lawyer Thea Kilian spent 100,000 rand on private tanks and filters.
- Public anger over municipal failures has eroded support for the ruling African National Congress ahead of local elections expected by November, as voters like Lindiwe Ndlovu, a former party member, turn away from the ANC.
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Johannesburg's water crisis angers voters, drives rich off-grid
Dry taps have become a daily frustration for residents of Johannesburg, a city haemorrhaging more than a third of its water supply, or an estimated 655 million litres (173 million gallons) a day, through burst pipes.
·London, United Kingdom
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'Lenasia South Has More Water In The Streets Than In The Taps,' Says Deputy Minister Bloom
Johannesburg – Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation Dr. Jack Bloom visited Lenasia, where residents complain of unreliable potable water supplies, and concluded that “Lenasia South has more water in the streets than in the taps”. The deputy minister said thousands of residents in Lenasia South have lived for years with daily water cutoffs, yet water flows freely in the streets due to multiple recurring leaks. “I saw this yesterday when I visi…
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Total News Sources6
Leaning Left0Leaning Right2Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution60% Center
Bias Distribution
- 60% of the sources are Center
60% Center
C 60%
R 40%
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