Mayor Dada Morero says Johannesburg has water challenges but insists there is no crisis

Mayor Dada Morero spoke about Johannesburg's water supply situation during an interview on The Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Xperience (SMWX)
The Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation reported that 44.8% of the city's water supply is classified as non-revenue water
Morero warned residents that water supply battles would continue for the next few weeks due to seasonal heat and high consumption

Byron Pillay, a Briefly News journalist, has spent a decade reporting on South Africa's political landscape, crime, and social issues. He worked as a newspaper journalist for 10 years before transitioning to online journalism.

GAUTENG — Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has pushed back against characterisations of Johannesburg's water situation as a crisis, insisting the city is still "on the right track" despite mounting evidence of systemic strain.

Morero made the remarks during a Monday night appearance on The Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Xperience (SMWX). The hour-long interview covered the mayor's political history, his rise through city governance, and his current position within the ANC, in addition to the water supply difficulties gripping the metro.

Morero's definition of a crisis

The mayor drew a clear line between what he called "challenges" and a genuine crisis.

"It's a crisis when the entire Johannesburg wakes up, and there's no water anywhere, and there's no electricity anywhere," he said, arguing that localised outages and supply strains do not meet that threshold.

He attributed the immediate shortages largely to seasonal demand, pointing to rising temperatures driving up household and commercial consumption faster than storage reservoirs can refill.

Morero also acknowledged infrastructure limits, noting that bulk water supplier Rand Water "can't give us more water than they're licensed to give," and called for municipal funding reforms to address the underlying resource gap.

Nearly half of Johannesburg's water is lost

The scale of the city's water losses presents a stark backdrop to the mayor's measured tone. The Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation has reported that 44.8% of Johannesburg's water supply is classified as non-revenue water — treated water the city purchases but cannot bill for.

Leaks alone account for roughly 35% of that lost volume, with illegal connections and unmetered supplies to indigent communities making up the remainder.

"We're losing a lot of water," Morero conceded during the interview, though he maintained this does not constitute a crisis in the administration's view.

Mayor Dada Morero says Johannesburg has water challenges but insists there is no crisis

Morero's definition of a crisis

Nearly half of Johannesburg's water is lost

Other stories about Gauteng's water crisis