Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr René Steyn and Sesotho soundbite by David Masoeu MPL.
Matjhabeng is experiencing sudden, extreme water outages, but Council, as the executive and legislative authority of the municipality, is not being properly informed of reservoir levels, supply constraints, or the causes of the decline in water availability.
If Vaal Central Water (VCW) is providing updates, these are clearly not reaching Council. We must be informed forthwith, consistently, directly, and in a format that allows oversight and public communication.
Worse, councillors were summarily removed from the WhatsApp group where reservoir levels were previously shared. Cutting elected public representatives off from critical operational information is irresponsible. It undermines oversight, fuels misinformation, and damages credibility at precisely the moment residents need clarity.
A credibility crisis is now unfolding. When no one is willing to publicly and clearly state what is happening with our water supply, a serious breakdown in credibility follows.
Residents deserve the truth, not vague reassurances, rumours, or silence. Residents had no time to prepare for the scale of these outages. The knock-on effects are severe: interrupted hygiene and healthcare routines, businesses disrupted, and sewer overflows escalating in an already strained system when the water supply becomes intermittent or collapses.
There is no other option but to engage councillors and the community at large, with verified information and regular updates. We cannot manage a crisis in the dark. That is why the DA is calling for immediate action as follows:
- Restore and formalise communication: Council must receive regular, verified updates on reservoir levels and supply constraints from VCW and the municipality.
- Reinstate councillor access to the reservoir reporting channel and move to a transparent reporting system that does not depend on ad hoc WhatsApp messages.
- Public fact-checking and disclosure: confirm the facts, publish them, and explain what is being done.
- Crisis coordination: provide realistic public guidance during outages to limit sewer spillages and public health impacts.
Alongside urgent engagement with VCW, I have submitted a proposal to municipal leadership and the Head Accounting Officer to immediately address water leaks and limit water losses as a matter of extreme urgency, with ideas to capacitate the Department of Infrastructure, which currently lacks sufficient senior management and resources to respond effectively.
Matjhabeng cannot continue losing large volumes of treated water through unattended leaks while communities face outages. Reducing losses is one of the fastest, most practical interventions the municipality can implement while the bulk supply situation is clarified.
It is time to stop managing perceptions and start managing the facts. If we want public cooperation and calm in an emergency, the starting point is simple: tell the truth, share the data, and communicate through the Council and directly with the public.