Water crisis: Calls for Mayor Morero to resign intensify

Share the Article:

The Joburg Crisis Alliance (JCA) has demanded for Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero to step down following continued failure amid water crisis.

The outrage emanate from what the alliance deemed failure by Morero and the MMC for Water to deliver on their promises.

Adding that the Mayor’s seven-day deadline has come and gone, yet communities in Claremont, Westbury, and Coronationville remain without reliable water.

In a statement issued, the alliance said the Mayor and MMC have failed this City and its people as a result hey must resign immediately as there is no culture of accountability in the City of Johannesburg.

“During a report back meeting on Thursday, 18 September 2025, for a lengthy period, angry residents chanted “We Want Water” and refused to allow the Mayor to present an update report.

“Residents demonstrated their challenges in having to carry water in bins, and a standoff with the security ensued.

“The tense meeting seemed to be falling apart and would not have been able to continue until interventions by civil society representatives brought the meeting back on track.

“The community was angry, and the anger was justified,” the statement read.

JCA accused the mayor of shifting timelines, empty promises, and shocking admission that R4 billion was swept out of Johannesburg Water’s account expose a government not only incompetent, but reckless.

“This unlawful diversion of funds violates National Treasury rules and potentially the Municipal Finance Management Act. Instead of fixing water infrastructure, money meant for essential services is raided to prop up other expenses. This is systemic neglect, and it borders on criminal,” JCA remarked.

Frustrations due to Water crisis

Venting its frustration, the Alliance revealed that a 70-year-old woman with ill health is forced to haul buckets of water up flights of stairs at midnight while a mother too ashamed to send her child to school in unwashed clothes.

“This is the human cost of the City’s collapse. The Mayor’s so-called “emergency allocation” for high-rise pipes is nothing but window dressing — too little, too late.

“The City lurches from one crisis to the next, unable to govern with foresight or responsibility and the silence of the President in the face of this crisis is equally unacceptable.

“South Africans do not need platitudes about councillors doing their jobs. We need decisive action.”

The Alliance added that the President must stop hiding and step in to ensure accountability, transparency, and immediate intervention in Johannesburg’s water disaster.

“It is insulting to the people of Johannesburg that the City is rolling out the red carpet for the G20 dignitaries. Yet, it is unable to provide a basic service like water to its people.

ALSO READ | ‘Suspend corruption accused Joburg MMC’: calls ActionSA

“Johannesburg does not need more excuses. It needs leadership, honesty, action. And it needs it now. We call for the immediate resignation of the Mayor and MMC for Water and a forensic investigation into the unlawful raiding of Johannesburg Water’s budget.

“Direct intervention from the Presidency to protect citizens from this ongoing collapse. The people of Johannesburg are tired of excuses. We demand accountability. We demand action,” JCA expressed.