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Water Crisis Continues for 17,000 People in Lenasia South

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Water Crisis Continues for 17,000 People in Lenasia South:

Residents of Phumla Mqashi informal settlement near Lenasia South have to fetch water from a truck.

Residents of Phumla Mqashi informal settlement near Lenasia South are struggling to access water after Johannesburg Water cut illegal connections last week Tuesday, sparking protests in the area. Protests continued till Thursday

The water utility confirmed that about 17,000 people live in the informal settlement.

“I just want water. If they could install tap water, I’m willing to pay. Now we are being treated like chickens. How long are we going to live this life?” asked resident Nandipha Madadasi, who was waiting for the water truck in a long queue with two buckets.

Johannesburg Water said in a statement there had previously been water tanks but “due to the ongoing land invasions … these tanks were vandalised”.

Spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said ten 5,000-litre water tanks and four roaming water trucks have been deployed since Friday, and more water tanks will be installed.

However, residents say these measures are insufficient.

“When some residents come back from work, they don’t find water in the [rain] tanks, and they leave early in the morning before the trucks arrive to refill them,” said community leader Dumisani Khalimele.

During GroundUp’s visit on Friday, dozens of residents, including children, waited in long lines. When a water truck finally arrived, it departed after just five minutes, leaving many without water. The driver said he had to go to another distribution point.

Ward 120 Councillor Puseletso Nzimande (ANC) said some community leaders initially prevented water trucks from delivering, insisting on illegal reconnections. “They tell us residents don’t want water trucks, but that’s not true because people desperately want water,” she said.

Nzimande explained that formal water infrastructure cannot be discussed yet as the area still needs to be assessed for human settlement suitability.

Some residents living near Eskom power lines will be relocated to Ward 22 in Vlakfontein, where a development is underway to accommodate them.

Community leaders are now trying to establish a committee to engage with the Johannesburg mayor about the water crisis and also housing issues, according to Khalimele.

In the meantime, residents continue to struggle with insufficient water supplies for basic needs like cooking, cleaning, and sanitation.

GroundUp experimented with AI Claude 3.5 Sonnet in the editing of this article.

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Ponte City: Transformation

As the “white flight” of the 1980s and 90s drained the inner city of capital, Ponte City underwent a dramatic and terrifying transformation. By the late 1990s, the building had become a “vertical slum” and a symbol of urban decay. It was famously “hijacked” by gangs; the retail levels were stripped, and the building became a fortress for drug dealing and human trafficking. The most haunting image from this era was the central core. Originally designed to be a light-filled courtyard, it became a literal trash heap. Residents on the upper floors would throw their refuse into the center of the building rather than taking it down. At its worst point, the trash in the core reached five stories high—a mountain of rotting debris, discarded furniture, and even, legend has it, the remains of those who had fallen or jumped.

During this period, the reputation of Ponte was so toxic that there was a serious proposal in 1998 to turn the entire skyscraper into a vertical prison. The plan was eventually scrapped, but the building remained a “no-go zone” for nearly a decade. The turnaround began in the mid-2000s when developers New Metro Property Group and later Dlala Nje began a massive, painstaking refurbishment. They cleared out the tons of trash from the core, restored the lifts (which had often been out of order, forcing residents to climb 50 flights of stairs), and implemented strict security protocols.