South Africans in less affluent areas continue to face chronic service delivery issues, with power and water outages significantly impacting their daily lives. Despite already dealing with soaring electricity and food prices, the looming increase in VAT adds another layer of stress for residents.
Lauren Jacobs, a 51-year-old mother and caregiver from Cape Town, has lived in Johannesburg’s West Rand for 15 years. She shares her home with her 79-year-old mother, who relies on chronic medication, and her daughter. Jacobs works from home three days a week. She described frequent water and power outages, with disruptions lasting between five and seven days at times.
“We constantly have to buy water, which gets very expensive,” Jacobs explained. “Our community provides water tankers, but getting to them is difficult. For electricity, we have to either keep our meat in family members’ freezers or throw it away when the power’s out. It’s a costly and frustrating way to live.”
Jacobs voiced frustration with the lack of communication from the City of Johannesburg regarding service delivery. “They never provide any real updates. It’s always ‘we are looking into it,’ or ‘we will let you know,’ but nothing concrete ever comes through,” she said.
The lack of reliable service delivery has led Jacobs to feel like a second-class citizen. “It’s unfair to pay rates for services we’re not getting. We’re being treated as if our communities don’t matter,” she said, adding that these issues are a heavy burden on household budgets.
“If there’s no water, we have to buy it. Water isn’t cheap at the shops. If there’s no power, we either lose food or drive around to find a place to store it. It’s tough, especially for mothers with babies or people who depend on oxygen.”
Jacobs called on local government to improve services and prioritize its citizens. “There’s a lot of work to do before service delivery can meet the needs of the people,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) caucus leader for Gauteng, Councillor Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku, is backing a full parliamentary inquiry into Gauteng’s water crisis. She criticized the City of Johannesburg for its inadequate response to the ongoing water issues, pointing out that despite commitments from the city, the situation has not improved.
The City of Johannesburg had previously pledged to enhance response times to water and sewer leaks, increase the number of water trucks, and improve leak detection. However, residents like Jacobs continue to struggle with unreliable power and water services, further exacerbated by ongoing load shedding.
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