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Over the last couple of days, Yeoville and Hillbrow residents have been left without water. This outage is due to two pumps not being operational at the Yeoville reservoir resulting in 34 streets not having water.

One of the two pumps has been repaired. Joburg Water has applied for an emergency procurement process to buy these two pumps. This is a capital investment which must go through a procurement process if it is not on the Capex budget for the year.

The finalisation of this process will take a couple of days. In addition, Joburg Water has also applied for a full value chain procurement. This means that it is not only for the buying of the pumps but also for the installation and commissioning of the pumps.

There are roving tankers going around but lately, we have seen videos of residents trying to get water from potholes or burst pipes.

In the meantime, residents are suffering mainly because of a lack of maintenance on the electrical infrastructure.

It is high time that the politicians approving the budget take responsibility for the current situation.

Infrastructure like water and electricity cannot be left to decay. Government must take responsibility for the R24 billion backlog on water infrastructure maintenance.

The DA is once again calling on the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu to assist municipalities that cannot carry the load of the socio-economic impact of state failure.

Issued by Nico De Jager MPL - DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Infrastructure Development