Nine months without water: Selby businesses say they’re on the brink

“We want to close down and leave for good”

In Selby’s industrial heartland, the sound of machinery still hums. Trucks still come and go. Workers clock in every morning.

But behind warehouse doors in Park Central, there’s something missing, water.

For nearly nine months, businesses in this pocket south of Johannesburg’s CBD say they have been operating without a permanent water supply. Instead of turning a tap, staff line up with empty containers when water tankers arrive. Others manually pump water from JoJo tanks just to keep toilets flushing and operations running.

And all the while, municipal bills keep arriving.

Paying for water that doesn’t flow

Business owners say they continue paying rates and service charges, including water, despite taps running dry.

“We are getting charged for water that we don’t even get,” said Nelson Fernandez, who owns three businesses in the area. “The system is very pathetic.”

Fernandez isn’t alone. Across Selby’s mix of paper suppliers, furniture manufacturers and automotive component companies, frustration has been simmering for months.

In a city already grappling with rolling water outages and aging infrastructure, Selby’s prolonged disruption has become a symbol of deeper dysfunction.

Health, safety and rising costs

The crisis is not just inconvenient, it’s risky.

Neil Darling, who runs Optimum Clutch System, says the lack of running water creates serious safety concerns.

“If there’s a fire here, we would have no ability to put it out because there’s no water,” he said.

For businesses handling paper and furniture, fire risk is not theoretical. It’s daily reality. Owners also worry about insurance implications, fearing claims could be rejected if companies are deemed non-compliant with health and safety regulations due to water shortages.

At the same time, productivity has taken a knock. Employers must buy bottled water for staff. Sanitation becomes a logistical exercise. Operations slow down.

Some companies in Selby employ hundreds of workers. The financial strain doesn’t just hit business owners it ripples into households across the city.

Thousands spent just to survive

To cope, many businesses have installed JoJo tanks and water pumps. Others rely on private water deliveries.

Robert Segar, another business owner in the area, says he now pays private contractors to deliver up to 8,000 litres every second day. The cost? Between R1,500 and R2,000 per week, depending on negotiations.

Multiply that over months, and the numbers become staggering.

“We reached a point where we wanted to close down and leave for good,” Fernandez admitted. “But we can’t because people depend on us for jobs.”

In a country battling high unemployment, that sentence carries weight.

The infrastructure problem

According to business owners, they’ve been told the root of the problem lies with infrastructure challenges at the Hector Norris pump station, about 3.5 kilometres from Park Central.

Joburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala confirmed that refurbishment and upgrades at the pump station are ongoing.

In the meantime, water tankers are dispatched daily. A WhatsApp group has been created to coordinate deliveries, and requests are typically met within 24 to 48 hours. Some supply is also being redirected from other zones to relieve pressure on the Selby system.

“Selby is getting intermittent supply,” Shabalala said.

But for business owners trying to plan payroll, production and deliveries, “intermittent” is not a strategy.

They say what’s missing most is a clear timeline.

“We need to know when this will be fixed so we can plan,” Fernandez said. “Right now, we are in the dark.”

A wider Joburg story

Selby’s water crisis doesn’t exist in isolation. Across Johannesburg, residents have faced recurring outages linked to aging pipes, power failures at pump stations and delayed infrastructure maintenance.

The city’s water system, much like its electricity grid, carries decades of underinvestment. Infrastructure designed for a smaller population now struggles to meet growing demand.

On social media, reactions to the Selby situation have ranged from outrage to weary resignation. Some users question why businesses must foot the bill for private water while municipal accounts continue. Others see it as another chapter in Johannesburg’s ongoing infrastructure battle.

Hanging on for now

Despite everything, Selby’s business community is still operating.

Tankers arrive. Containers fill. Pumps whirr to life. Staff adapt.

But there is a limit to resilience.

If repairs at the Hector Norris pump station drag on without clarity, more companies may reconsider their future in the area. And if that happens, the consequences won’t just be empty warehouses, they’ll be lost jobs.

For now, Selby’s businesses remain open.

But nine months without water has turned patience into pressure and survival into a daily calculation.

{Source: The Citizen}

Follow Joburg ETC on Facebook, Twitter , TikTok and Instagram

For more News in Johannesburg, visit joburgetc.com