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Call for Johannesburg to Rewrite the Water Budget

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Call for Johannesburg to Rewrite the Water Budget:

WaterCAN calls on the City of Johannesburg to table an adjustment budget which increases the capital spending on water and sanitation infrastructure from R1.221 billion to R3bn for 2024/25 and to R3bn for 2025/26.

The adjustment budget is due to be tabled at the council’s first meeting of the year on 30 January. This should then be available for public comment.

WaterCAN, an initiative of OUTA, is running a petition calling on the City to rewrite the budget and calling on active citizens to sign this petition.

“Water is the most essential service which the municipality provides, but Joburg fails to fund this adequately. We want the City to prioritise upgrading and maintaining water infrastructure,” says Dr Ferrial Adam, WaterCAN Executive Manager.

“Access to water is a constitutional right.”

The problem
Joburg’s water and sanitation infrastructure is falling apart, due to aging infrastructure and inadequate maintenance, and there are insufficient funds for new infrastructure to expand and improve the system. Millions of litres of water are wasted daily due to infrastructure failures – Joburg loses 47% of all the treated water it buys to theft and leaks.
Water cuts have become common in Joburg, with some areas suffering cuts for weeks at a time. Johannesburg is at risk of a water disaster that threatens public health, economic stability and the environment. Underserved communities are disproportionately affected by unreliable supply.

The 2024/25 budget
Water services plus R7.246 billion for sanitation services during 2024/25, a total revenue of R17.878 billion and intended to cover all its operational expenditure budget of R17.658 billion. The capital expenditure budget is separate, and includes grant funding from national government. The utility’s billing and collections are managed centrally by the City of Joburg which, over the years, has retained control of any annual surplus.

What we want

  • The City should increase the Joburg Water capex budget to R3bn for 2024/25 and R3bn for 2025/26.
  • The City should prioritise upgrading and maintaining water infrastructure, and ringfence the revenue from the water and sanitation services for use for those services.
  • See our petition for more information.

– MyZA

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The Oriental Plaza: A Phoenix in Fordsburg

If Johannesburg is a city of forced displacements, the Oriental Plaza is its most resilient response. While the Rand Club was built for the elite and Ponte for the “jet-set,” the Oriental Plaza was born from the trauma of the Group Areas Act—a piece of Apartheid legislation designed to geographically separate the races. Yet, in true Johannesburg fashion, what was intended as a tool of containment and financial ruin for the Indian community transformed into one of the most vibrant, independent commercial powerhouses in the country.

The story of the Plaza begins with the destruction of Pageview, affectionately known as Fietas. In the mid-20th century, Fietas was a legendary multicultural hub, centered around the bustling 14th Street. It was the city’s premier destination for textiles, clothing, and spices, where shoppers of all races would rub shoulders in a “jazzy, soulful” atmosphere. However, because Fietas was located so close to the white-only city center, the Apartheid government declared it a “white area” in 1962. The community fought back for decades, but by the 1970s, the bulldozers arrived. Homes were leveled, and the thriving traders of 14th Street were forcibly relocated to a purpose-built, modernist complex a kilometer away in Fordsburg: the Oriental Plaza.

The government’s intent was cynical: by moving the traders into a controlled environment with high state-mandated rents and strict rules on what could be sold, they hoped to break the back of Indian commercial dominance. The early years were devastating; many businesses folded, and the “Grand Bazaar” felt like a sterile warehouse compared to the street-level energy of Fietas. However, the traders refused to vanish. They eventually won the right to purchase their own shops, making the Oriental Plaza unique among South African malls because it is owned by the shopkeepers themselves rather than a corporate landlord. This ownership model changed everything. Without the burden of massive monthly mall rentals, the 360+ independent stores can offer prices that national retailers cannot touch, turning the Plaza into a “bargain-hunter’s paradise” that draws millions of visitors a year.