Mashatile to conduct oversight visit to Joburg’s water facilities

Deputy President Paul Mashatile is set to conduct an oversight visit to Johannesburg's water facilities in his capacity as chairperson of the water task team on Friday.

The visit takes place amid persistent and prolonged water outages that have seen frustrated community members picket.

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Mashatile’s visit comes as authorities implement water shifting measures aimed at managing system pressure and restoring consistent flow.

The oversight visit is said to form part of government’s broader efforts to unlock bottlenecks and restore a reliable, sustainable water supply in the city.

This comes as a report by National Treasury shows that municipalities are losing billions of rands annually in potential revenue due to water losses.

Tshwane and Johannesburg are among the metros where significant volumes of water are lost, largely due to ageing infrastructure, poor maintenance, frequent pipe bursts and weak management systems.

While Rand Water continues to pump at full capacity, supply remains constrained.

The Commando Network - including Brixton, Crosby and Hursthill, as well as Soweto reservoirs such as Doornkop and Meadowlands - has been under immense pressure

Authorities said this network is now showing gradual improvement, although the system has not yet fully stabilised.