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Rand Water has noted the statements made by the Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng, Mr. Solly Msimanga and wishes to respond as follows: 

1. Poor Communication by Rand Water 

a. Rand Water is a bulk water service provider established in terms of the Section 28 of the Water Services Act (108 of 1997). 

b. As such, Rand Water abstracts, purifies and distributes water to its customers in bulk. The customer base of Rand Water comprises of Metros, Local Municipalities, Industries and other small consumers. 

c. Rand Water therefore contracts with its customers and communication protocols are outlined in these contracts. The protocols are very clear in terms of notifications to customers in instances of supply interruptions. 

d. In addition to the provisions in these contracts, Rand Water has carefully crafted a Customer Charter in line with its values. The Customer Charter dictates that Rand Water issues notifications to the customers whenever supply interruptions are planned. 

e. Rand Water has without fail, communicated to the customers whenever there are planned as well as emergency supply interruptions. In addition to the direct customer communications, Rand Water further releases media statements to this effect. This includes the currently planned maintenance program. 

f. Contrary to what Mr. Msimanga states, Rand Water has had a successful meeting with the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg recently where issues of communications were explained and well understood by the Executive Mayor who further advised how to improve on communications going forward. We welcome the leadership of the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg to this effect. 

2. Rand Water’s Incompetence – Failure to provide water tankers 

a. Rand Water provides water to its customers in bulk. 

b. The responsibility of reticulating water to the consumers rests with the Metros/Municipalities. 

c. Therefore, Rand Water does not provide water tankers, this remains the responsibility of the Metros/Municipalities as per agreements with our municipalities hence the issuance of 21 days’ notices to municipalities. 

d. Notwithstanding the above, Rand Water has demonstrated on a number of occasions, that it is empathetic to the issues of supply interruptions. Case in point – Rand Water assisted City of Johannesburg with water tankers when it was requested. 

3. National Key Points – No protection of Water Treatment Plants 

Mr. Msimanga further makes a call that the water infrastructure must be declared National Key Points (NKPs). Mr. Msimanga refers to a shocking discovery when he visited Water Treatment Plants where he suggests that plants he visited were not NKPs. We wish to state that Mr. Msimanga has never visited any of our Water Treatment Plants. We further wish to put on record that all our Water Treatment Plants are indeed National Key Points. 

4. Asbestos pipes – Frequent pipe bursts 

a. Rand Water does not have any Asbestos pipes in our network. In fact, Asbestos pipes are found in the Metros and Municipal networks. 

We remain committed to augmenting, refurbishment, operations and maintenance of our infrastructure. To this effect we plan to spend close to R25 billion in the next five years to upgrade our infrastructure to meet current and future water requirements of our municipalities. We also commit ourselves to assisting, where possible, our municipal customers in and around Gauteng to address their high water loses of more than 40% as a result of their ageing infrastructure that includes asbestos pipes in their value chain.

Issued by Rand Water