This afternoon, I will lead a delegation of the Multi-Party Government Executive to various parts of the City to assess the state of damage across the Regions, starting in Alexandra in Region E.

I have been assured by the MMC for Transport, Cllr Funzela Ngobeni, that all Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) personnel are working around the clock to ensure that stormwater and roads infrastructure affected by the devastating and inclement weather are attended to.

I have also been in contact with the MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Cllr Michael Sun, who oversees Joburg Water, City Power and Pikitup, who has stated that all personnel are also attending to the effects of the bad weather over the last week. 

Unfortunately, some service delivery operations have been affected by the trail of destruction left by the harsh weather conditions. Pikitup refuse collection operations have been severely curtailed by the inclement weather, therefore some areas may see a delay in refuse collection.

With regards to City Power, all available technical manpower (including technically equipped team leaders, General Managers and and Executives) have been deployed to deal with outages. Regrettably, rolling blackouts have severely complicated matters, as non-powered lines cannot be worked on.

The City's power utility is currently dealing with 4,000 outage calls, half of which were logged in the last 24-hours. The damage to roads has also affected the ability of teams to access some areas.

The resources of Joburg Water have also been stretched by the ongoing storms, and the Entity is pulling out all the stops to attend to calls, despite the inaccessibility of some infrastructure due to flooding. 

Currently, the pressing issue for Joburg Water is a burst pipe in Alexandra, where an emergency contractor has been deployed and is currently busy with a tie-in, as a temporary measure, in order to restore water services in the area.

The Joburg Multi-Party Government understands the anger and frustration of residents, and I want to assure residents that work is being done to ensure that clean-up operations across the City continue until service delivery is stabilised.

All Public Safety Departments under MMC David Tembe, are also on high alert.

I want to convey my thanks to City and Entity Officials who are working around the clock and under very difficult conditions. I further want to appeal to residents not to interfere with the work with the City's personnel on the ground.​

I also call on residents to apply the “if you see it; report it" principle by logging calls with Joburg Connect on 0860 56 28 74.  At the same time City Departments and Entities will provide regular updates through to updates.

This is a government that working, with and for communities.

ENDS....

For media queries, please contact: 

 Mabine Seabe

Director: Mayoral Communication

Private Office of the Executive Mayor

084 677 7851

​09/12/2022​