Joburg clamp on leaks

Caught up in panic-mode, the Johannesburg metro has clamped down on any talk of a water shortage that might compromise long-term supply to the city's more than 4 million people.

Everyone at Jo burg Water, and probably the municipality's middle and upper management, have been ordered by the city's mayor, Parks Tau, not to respond to media inquiries about a water shortage facing the city.

The Department of Water Affairs has seemingly also been told to keep quiet.

An e-mail sent yesterday morning to Water Affairs' chief director of communication services, Mava Scott, by Joburg Water's spokesman Millicent Kabwe reveals that no one but Tau is allowed to respond to queries from the media about water shortages.

The e-mail reads: "Good day Mava, We have been advised my [sic] the mayor's office that we shouldn't talk about this issue with the media, he is handling all queries. Can I ask that the report be restricted to internal stakeholders. This is more political than what's [sic] meets the eye."

This follows a report in The Times on Monday, which warned that demand for water in the city would outstrip supply by 2015unless action were taken.

A report containing the dire warning was tabled and adopted by the council last month.

The council report and the news story - published on the eve of the State of the City speech in which Tau waxed lyrical about the council's achievements - seem to have ruffled feathers and embarrassed the mayor.

Though Jo burg Water denied the existence of the council report and the accompanying warning , Tau acknowledged the problem.

"As a city we are concerned about the growth in water demand brought on by continuing rapid urbanisation. I want to make an urgent call on our citizens today to use water sparingly and help us reduce our per capita consumption of water," he said on Monday in Orlando, Soweto.

Joburg Water also put out an official statement yesterday saying bad publicity in the run-up to elections would not be good for the city.

It said increased demand for water at a time of "constrained supply" was an impediment to service delivery and could spark protests by residents.

"The impact will be failure to deliver and/or expand services. Unfortunately this will hit basic services recipients the hardest.

"The media coverage that is associated with this will not be good for the city's reputation.

"Additional pressure is likely to be felt in the run-up to the elections as the events of the past several months indicate that more South Africans are becoming impatient with local and national government with regard to 'broken promises'."