Joburg Water mum on Brixton reservoir reopening as deadline looms

Johannesburg Water is yet to confirm whether the Brixton reservoir and tower will be operational by the end of this week.

Earlier this month, mayor Dada Morero committed to having the delayed project go online at the end of February.

This comes as some communities, including parts of Brixton and Melville, are still without a reliable water supply.

"By the end of February, the facility would be fully functional and would help the city provide Region B with sufficient storage," said Morero.

The delays come amid reports that funds originally allocated to the project were diverted.

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Meanwhile, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has criticised the cross-subsidisation of funding by municipalities.

He said that of the R11.9 billion revenue collected by Johannesburg Water, only R1.3 billion had gone towards capital expenditure.

"This has contributed to the massive backlog of R64 billion that is needed to fix water supply problems in the city. If this practice of collecting revenue from basic services while diverting the funds to unrelated functions continues, maintenance backlogs will grow, services deteriorate and critical infrastructure systems eventually collapse."