Joburg Mayor Dada Morero was grilled in Parliament over the diversion of R4bn intended for Joburg Water. (Photo: Sharon Seretlo / Gallo Images) 
On 18 September, Joburg Mayor Dada Morero attempted to address residents at a community meeting in Coronationville, but he was drowned out by chants of “We want water”.
Residents, some of whom have gone weeks without a consistent supply, told of carrying buckets late at night, elderly neighbours struggling up stairwells, and children missing school because their uniforms could not be washed.
“The so-called emergency allocation for high-rise pipes offers too little, too late,” said the Joburg Crisis Alliance (JCA), a coalition of residents and activists, last Thursday. “As the city prepares to host G20 dignitaries, its own citizens suffer without basic services. The silence from the Presidency is equally unacceptable.”
Parliamentary showdown
The following day, Friday, 19 September, Morero was grilled by the
Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation over the diversion of R4-billion from Johannesburg Water.
DA MP Stephen Moore challenged the mayor, “Why was R4-billion taken from Joburg Water at this critical time, when communities are going without water for weeks? What other expenses were deemed more important than residents’ basic right to water?”
Moore pointed to Johannesburg Water’s latest annual report, which revealed that “cash flow restrictions” had left the entity unable to pay R1.1-billion to creditors by June 2024. He pointed out that contractors had since halted work, further delaying urgent upgrades.
Morero confirmed the R4-billion diversion, explaining that Johannesburg operated under a “sweeping arrangement” where revenues from trading services like water, electricity and waste are pooled into a central city account and reallocated through the budget process.
“All the money that comes into the city has to come into a central account, and every entity will be allocated as per the budget that we have passed,” said Morero. “We will reform this, but ring-fencing will be implemented at a pace and scale the city can afford.”
Committee chairperson Leon Basson said he was “really not satisfied” with the mayor’s response. “So that means contractors will stand last in the row, so it doesn’t matter whether they go bankrupt because you are not prioritising them,” he said.
“You’ve signed contracts with contractors that say you will pay them within 30 days, but instead you choose to pay them only when you have cash. That is unacceptable.
“I will ask National Treasury and the Auditor-General to investigate this, because you are setting up contractors for failure that you have appointed.”
Morero admitted the city prioritised payments for staff salaries and medical aid, followed by bulk suppliers like Eskom and Rand Water. Contractors are paid last — if there is cash. No date has been given for repayment of the diverted R4-billion.
“I’ve been a councillor for 18½ years in a municipality, I know how it works,” said Basson. “You take that to your council; you ring-fence that. It is not rocket science.”
Morero, he said, was “not serious about the problem of the water in Johannesburg. You need to come out clear on how you are going to deal with it. I want dates from you. Don’t tell me you are going to do it in future.
“When are you going to ring-fence the money for water so that the community can get water in their pipes?”
Morero said that reforms would be implemented at “a pace and scale that the city can afford”, but gave no dates.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/DSC_4657-1.jpg "A young boy in Coronationville pulls a trolley full of water bottles to supply elderly neighbours during persistent water cuts. (Photo: Julia Evans)")
Joburg Water’s crumbling pipes, shrinking budget
Johannesburg Water’s managing director, Ntshavheni Mukwevho, told the committee that the entity faced an infrastructure renewal backlog of R27-billion.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/ED_536763.jpg "Joburg Water Director Ntshavheni Mukwevho. (Photo: Sharon Seretlo / Gallo Images)")
Nearly 20% of Joburg’s water infrastructure has a remaining useful life of less than 10 years, while non-revenue water has risen to 44.8% — almost half of all water supplied. Of this, 23.7% is lost through leaks and pipe bursts (“real losses”) and 9.2% through illegal connections and meter issues (“apparent losses”).
Johannesburg Water’s assets, with a replacement cost of R127-billion, require a renewal rate of 2% per year. Yet current funding allows for less than half that — around 0.9%.
The entity has drafted a 10-year turnaround strategy requiring R32.5-billion, including R10.6-billion for infrastructure upgrades and R9.6-billion for treatment plants. About R4-billion is needed for demand management projects such as leak reduction. However, implementation of the strategy has already been hampered.
“Backlogs in large infrastructure projects like sewer pipe replacements and the construction on the Brixton reservoir have ground to a halt because Joburg Water does not have the money to pay contractors,” said Julia Fish, regional manager at the civil society network JoburgCAN.
She warned that “the R4-billion is the canary in the mine shaft showing how cash-strapped the city is, and that promises of fixed reservoirs or new pipelines are just a pipe dream.”
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Water-shutdown-16.jpg "Julia Fish. (Photo: Meseret Argaw)")
Civil society demands resignations
The Joburg Crisis Alliance has demanded the resignations of Morero and the MMC for water, the launch of a forensic probe into the diversion of the R4-billion, and direct national intervention.
Fish said sweeping arrangements were “only meant to be a revenue enhancement process to increase interest earned, not to long-term divert funds to non-revenue entities,” warning that Johannesburg risked losing Treasury grants.
“The city keeps shifting deadlines and making empty promises while people across Joburg are left hauling buckets,” said WaterCAN executive director Ferrial Adam.
“The mayor promised site visits and quick fixes, but nothing materialised. We need transparency: the city must publish its six-month plan and budget for water infrastructure so communities can see exactly what is being done, and by when.”
Parliament has given Morero 14 days to submit strategic water plans and details of Johannesburg Water’s capital reserve. DM