A group of water experts want to help Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda solve the city's ongoing water crisis, but first they have to get him to meet with them. 

The Johannesburg Water Crisis Committee said Gwamanda snubbed them for a second time after he cancelled a rescheduled meeting over water outages in the city at the last minute.

And while Gwamanda plays hide-and-seek with the committee, Johannesburg residents have suffered water outages in parts of the city every day for the past two months.

Committee leader Farah Domingo said a meeting with city leaders had been scheduled for 13 December but after 18:00 on 12 December, the meeting was cancelled.

Gwamanda, however, said it was his intention to continue working with the residents through the committee to find a lasting solution to the water outages. 

The NGO is a branch of the Johannesburg Crisis Committee, an organisation of activists and residents looking to fix the issues hampering the city, especially water outages, which have plagued the city for the last two years.

The Water Crisis Committee includes water experts, scientists, and engineers, who are all offering their services free of charge to the city.

The committee handed Gwamanda a memorandum of demands during a water protest on 31 October, calling for a meeting with the city within 14 days to present city leaders with a credible plan for tackling the crisis.

The deadline passed without word from the mayor's office.

The committee followed up and was told the mayor thought it was 14 working days.

"And so, we waited patiently until 21 November," Domingo said.

The new deadline also went unanswered, and the committee followed up again.

A statement by the committee in November read: "But then our patience ran out like the water in our taps.

"We were disturbed to read that the mayor teed off for the Johannesburg Golf Open on 23 November when, as citizens, we most needed his presence and commitment.

"This golfing excursion sends a troubling message, suggesting a lack of empathy for citizens who are enduring days, and for some, months, without water, struggling to secure basic necessities, and facing health risks due to inadequate water and sanitation."

Fed up with the no-show, 10 members of the NGO arrived at the council meeting on 29 November to demand an audience with Gwamanda.

However, the mayor chose to go into the council chamber rather than meet protesters.

In council, Gwamanda told councillors he had already created a committee responsible for answering the Water Crisis Committee.

He said he had only just learned his committee had not done anything.

This sparked a debate within the chamber, and councillors forced the mayor to go outside and meet with the NGO.

Outside the council, Gwamanda told Domingo he was told the issues had been resolved.

The mayor then appointed his staff to meet with the committee and a meeting, which would provide city leaders with possible solutions to the water problems, was then scheduled for 13 December.

After this meeting was cancelled at the last minute, the committee asked to meet within seven days.

They have yet to hear back from the city.

"We're not going [to the meeting] to complain. We've got analysts and previous DGs [directors-general] for [the Department of] Water and Sanitation - they will work with Johannesburg Water to resolve the issues.

"I don't understand why they don't want to [meet]," Domingo said.

Gwamanda's spokesperson, Mlimandlela Ndamase, added it was the mayor's intention and commitment to continue working with the residents, "directly and through the committee, to find a lasting solution to the water issues raised".

"The executive mayor has previously honoured and personally visited the areas represented by the concerned residents. "The matter remains a priority and is receiving the requisite attention. 

"The city has a highly capable team of water experts and engineers with vast experience and knowledge.

"It is, however, not averse to any ideas and persons who genuinely believe they may have solutions that are currently unconsidered and not on the City's radar," he said.