Lesufi admits Gauteng was caught off guard by water crisis

Johannesburg Water expects storage to reach about 50% by the end of the week. Lesufi said the water losses in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane came from El Niño and related factors, as he was told. He said the deployment of the water and sanitation deputy minister and technical teams helped stabilise the system.

Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero said Crown Gardens, Berea and Kensington had seen improvements. He said Kensington was the worst hit and the city had restored it. Morero said the city bought 20 tankers in 2025 and 16 more in a second phase.

Morero said replacing ageing water infrastructure would cost R13bn. He said the investment would save the city about R300m in its water business. Reports said interventions could cut water losses by at least 10% in the short term.

Henk Boshoff, chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, said municipalities should stop spending hundreds of millions of rand on water tankers. He said service providers and municipal officials are sabotaging infrastructure. WaterCAN executive manager Ferrial Adam said Johannesburg Water and the province should have seen the crisis coming.