Please find attached soundbites in English by Maritha Coetzee
Please find attached soundbites in Afrikaans by Maritha Coetzee
- Residents across the western areas of Matlosana continue to face prolonged and recurring water outages,
- Repeated infrastructure and operational failures are putting the reliability of the water supply at risk,
- The DA is calling for urgent intervention, clear timelines and a sustainable solution to Matlosana’s water crisis.
The Democratic Alliance is calling on the City of Matlosana to urgently address the ongoing water crisis affecting residents across the western areas of the municipality.
Residents of Hartbeesfontein, Tigane, Jouberton, Alabama, Meiringspark and surrounding areas have endured months, and in many cases years, of unreliable water supply. Communities have become trapped in an unacceptable cycle of having water for a day or two, followed by outages lasting up to a week.
Families, businesses, schools, healthcare facilities and vulnerable residents are being forced to cope with conditions that no functioning municipality should accept.
This week, a major pipe burst on the main Ellaton water line was repaired. However, fixing the immediate fault does not address the deeper infrastructure and operational failures that continue to undermine water supply to the western parts of Matlosana.
These failures include:
- Municipal workers reportedly failing to restart pumps following outages or maintenance.
- Continuous electrical failures at the Ellaton Pump Station.
- The delayed replacement of a critical soft starter at Ellaton, despite warnings about the problem for almost three years.
- Ongoing electrical failures at pump stations in Alabama and Jouberton.
- Frequent leaks on the pipeline supplying the Rietkuil Reservoir, with repairs reportedly becoming almost a monthly occurrence.
- Poor planning and implementation of a new fuel procurement system, which left essential service departments without fuel cards and significantly delayed water, sewer and electricity repairs for nearly a week.
These are not isolated breakdowns. They point to deeper failures in the City’s planning, maintenance, operational management, and protection of critical infrastructure.
The questions are simple: Why were warnings about the Ellaton soft starter not acted on? Why do electrical failures continue to disrupt critical pump stations? Why are recurring pipeline leaks not being permanently addressed? What is being done to prevent further failures on the Ellaton water line? And why was a new fuel procurement system introduced without ensuring that essential service departments could continue operating?
Residents are paying their municipal accounts and have a right to reliable water. Instead, households are struggling to maintain basic hygiene, businesses are facing losses, and elderly residents, children and patients are being left to cope with prolonged outages.
The City of Matlosana must stop treating each breakdown as an isolated emergency. These recurring failures have become a pattern, and residents need a clear recovery plan, urgent infrastructure maintenance, improved operational management, clear timelines and accountability for the continued failure to secure a reliable water supply.
As part of our Working for All Manifesto 2026, the Democratic Alliance is committed to reinvesting water money into fixing broken pipes, pumps and water systems, while bringing in skilled private-sector capacity where municipalities lack the expertise or ability to deliver.
Matlosana residents deserve a water system that works.