Press Statement by James Masango- Spokesperson on CoGHSTA
- The DA calls for MEC intervention in Govan Mbeki’s water crisis.
- Residents in some areas have been without water for 12-14 days.
- Six water reservoirs remain below 50% capacity despite the work being completed over ten days ago.
29 July 2026
Release: Immediate
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will write to the MEC of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) to engage with Rand Water and the Mayor of Govan Mbeki to bring an end to the current water crisis.
On the 15th of July, Govan Mbeki’s Mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma, held a press briefing communicating that Rand Water will be undertaking repairs to the water network between the 17th- 19th of July 2026.
However, although the repair was undertaken by Rand Water on the 18th of July, residents in some parts of Govan Mbeki have been without a drop of water for the past two weeks.
The DA finds it completely unacceptable that although the necessary repairs were conducted eleven days ago and Rand Water should have begun pumping, the reservoir levels are as follows:
- Bethal Rand Reservoir- 20% capacity
- Extension 5 Reservoir- 0%
- Extension 4 Reservoir- 32%
- Van Heerden Reservoir- 0%
- eMbalenhle Reservoir- 35%
- Charl Cilliers- 0%
It cannot be business as usual, while residents are without water and Govan Mbeki is failing to live up to its constitutional mandate.
Given the above shortcomings, the DA maintains that a tripartite meeting must take place between the MEC of CoGHSTA, Govan Mbeki’s Mayor and Rand Water to discuss a lack of water tanker delivery schedules, why the recovery process is taking this long and to plot realistic recovery timelines.
As a means to prevent a recurrence of this, we also call on the relevant stakeholders to ensure that all reservoirs in Govan Mbeki are functional.
The DA will not sit idle while residents are without basic services. We will ensure a robust recovery system is in place and that residents have access to water.
For media queries:
James Masango MPL
Spokesperson of CoGHSTA
082 891 0717