Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda failed to pitch up at a community meeting in the south of the city on Thursday. Residents there have experienced several bouts of protracted water cuts this year.
“This morning when we arrived here, the mayor was a no-show, Rand Water was a no-show and they are critical stakeholders to all the problems we’re having here in Johannesburg as far as our water’s concerned,” said Ward 55 councillor Rashida Landis.
Residents were informed last week that a planned maintenance, which would have resulted in a two-day water outage from Tuesday, was put on hold. Residents in Wards 54, 55, 56, 57 and 124, covering areas like Robertsham and Ridgeway, however, had no water yet again.
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Water Indaba
It is not the first time officials have evaded accountability to residents of the city of Johannesburg. On Wednesday, a representative of Johannesburg Water (JW) walked out of a water indaba that was meant to find solutions to the water crisis, insisting they would not address the community unless Rand Water was present.
Professor Hamanth Kassan from the South African Water Chamber said, at that engagement, it was not possible to identify issues facing those particular communities without sitting with officials at Rand Water and JW.
The mayor failed to show up at a subsequent meeting in Springfield. Mayoral committee member Jack Sekwaila, Council Speaker Colleen Makhubele, several councillors as well as representatives of CoJ were present.
Even so, Makhubele said the City understood the urgent need to ensure services were delivered to ratepayers.
“We understand … you are ratepayers. You are one of those citizens that we should be looking after. If we cannot service a community like this, that ensures that the city works, how are we going to service our informal settlements? How are we going to look after the poor of the city?” she said, at the community meeting on Thursday.
Professor Hamanth Kassan addressed community members on Wednesday. Watch the full engagement here:
