Left Dry and in Debt: Sunninghill Residents Pay the Price for Johannesburg Water’s Silence

As burst pipes return, a growing community is asking: Where is Johannesburg Water?

Sunninghill, once known as one of Johannesburg’s more peaceful residential enclaves, is boiling over, not just from the midwinter water outages, but from frustration with a city utility that many feel has all but abandoned them.

For the second time in less than a week, residents of Marise Crescent found themselves without water after yet another pipe burst on July 1. This time, though, they didn’t wait for Johannesburg Water. They paid for the repairs themselves. Again.

R3,500 and counting

“The community just couldn’t wait,” said Ward 93 councillor Vino Reddy, who has been advocating for answers from the utility. “In an act of desperation, kind residents bought the pipes and materials to effect the repairs. It’s a crying shame.”

The repairs reportedly cost over R3,500, a burden shouldered by ordinary homeowners, not the city. It’s the latest example of what Reddy and others say is a systemic failure within Johannesburg Water, plagued by expired contracts, material shortages, and red tape.

An echo chamber of silence

On July 3, Fourways Review sent formal questions to JW spokesperson Nolwazi Dhlamini and cc’d Puleng Mopeli, asking for clarity on the procurement situation, the legality of residents fixing water infrastructure, and the status of the promised pipe replacements. No reply was received.

The silence has only added to the frustration. Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), for instance, has previously warned that it’s illegal for residents to fill potholes, raising similar concerns about private citizens fixing public infrastructure. So what does the law say when it comes to burst water pipes? No one from JW is saying.

This isn’t new, it’s been two years in the making

According to Reddy, this isn’t just a sudden lapse, it’s part of a longer pattern of neglect. He says he’s been calling on Johannesburg Water to replace the ageing, unreliable pipes on Peltier and Marise Crescent for over two years.

“I met with the Sunninghill community, JW’s Zandfontein depot team, and Region A CRUM on site. We all agreed the pipes needed to be replaced. That was months ago,” he said.

The utility initially promised that work would begin by June. But as July unfolds, nothing has been done. Temporary contracts, shortages of parts, and bureaucratic inertia are now becoming the norm and residents are paying for it, both literally and emotionally.

Public patience is wearing thin

On neighbourhood WhatsApp groups and Facebook forums, frustration is spilling over. “Why do we pay rates and taxes if we have to fix our own water?” one resident asked. Another posted a photo of their receipt for the pipe materials, with the caption: ‘Doing JW’s job, one burst at a time.’

Some see it as a symptom of a larger city-wide crisis. Johannesburg has been grappling with mounting service delivery issues, from power cuts to potholes, and now, crumbling water infrastructure.

A new normal or a call to action?

With no official response from Johannesburg Water, and no resolution in sight, residents are left wondering if this patch-it-yourself approach is the new normal. But Reddy believes the community deserves better.

“Water is a basic right. It should not be something people have to buy twice, once through their taxes, and again from their own wallets when the system fails,” he said.

For Sunninghill, the water might be flowing again, but the trust in city services has all but dried up.

{Source: The Citizen}

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