By Akani Nkuna
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi on Wednesday night apologised after drawing backlash for saying earlier in the day that he sometimes had to book into hotels to bathe during prolonged water outages in the Johannesburg area.
“The water challenges we are experiencing inconvenience everyone equally. No one is immune to the frustration and disruption caused by water shortages, and I regret any impression that suggested otherwise,” he said in his apology, posted on X.
Lesufi made the remarks about having to bathe in hotels at a media briefing earlier in the day. He was briefing journalists about an oversight visit to Johannesburg’s Brixton Reservoir, alongside Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina, Deputy Minister David Mahlobo, and Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero.
“People think that if there is no water…our families get special water. We do not. We also go through [the same]. In some instances, I had to go to a certain hotel so that I could [bathe before I go] to my commitments,” he said at the briefing.
He added: “We also go through the same inconveniences like any other person. There is no special water or a special pipe that is designed to service [some] people and not the rest. We do not have water when communities do not have water. But [we have a responsibility] to fix the problem.”
Also on Wednesday, the Democratic Alliance announced it would be taking the City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water to court over its failure to provide essential water services to residents.
“Johannesburg has an existing water action plan, one adopted by council with inputs from the DA. This plan gathers dust as Morero fails to act. No implementation, no funding and no political will to solve Johannesburg’s water woes,” said DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga.
Msimanga called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to address the crisis during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday night.
Since January, parts of Johannesburg have experienced intensified, prolonged outages, low pressure and inconsistent supply, including in Midrand and areas supplied through key reservoirs such as Alexander Park.
The outages — the result of infrastructure failure and poor governance — some lasting over 20 days, have sparked numerous community protests.
Prior to the briefing, civil society groups under the coalition of The People’s Water Forum released a statement saying they had written to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday, asking for “urgent national intervention” in Johannesburg, which included the declaration of a national disaster. They asked Ramaphosa to respond by Thursday (today).
Lesufi said the provincial government and stakeholders were working to address infrastructure constraints and restore reliable supply, and thanked residents for their “patience” and “resilience”.
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