While Johannesburg Water says there are no water issues in Constitution Hill, where the Constitutional Court is housed, people who work there seem to paint a different picture.
According to the office of the chief justice, for most of November the Constitutional Court struggled to hear cases in person because of water challenges.
The Constitutional Court has, since the beginning of the current court term on November 1 2024, been unable to conduct physical or in-court case hearings because of unreliable water supply in the court building.
The court released a statement this week: “The Constitutional Court has, since the beginning of the current court term on November 1 2024, been unable to conduct physical or in-court case hearings because of unreliable water supply in the court building.
“The exact cause of the ongoing irregular water supply challenge is not known, though it appears to be generalised in the Hillbrow area where the court is located. Water leaks in the court’s water system were also detected, which further affected water supply in the court,” the statement read.
They attempted to fix these issues themselves.
“A professional plumber deployed by the department of public works and infrastructure, together with the department of justice and constitutional development, has since addressed the water leaks. While the court has a water tank installed for ablution facilities, this back-up water supply lasts for only one working day, and the City of Johannesburg is unable to refill it promptly on a daily basis to allow court operations to continue uninterrupted. As a result, the court has been unable to conduct physical or in-court case hearings.”
On Wednesday, Johannesburg Water denied the claim of interrupted water service.
“Johannesburg Water has learnt of a media statement sent from the office of the chief justice about water operations hampering the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) from November 1 2024,” the statement read.
“Johannesburg Water confirms that they have been in constant contact with the maintenance personnel from the ConCourt. The office of the executive mayor together with Johannesburg Water visited the ConCourt today to establish the information contained in the statement.
“The City of Johannesburg team met the facility and operations manager, who confirmed that the Joburg Water team has been available to provide assistance where there are supply challenges in the system. They further confirmed that there is piped water now, and there are no supply challenges.”
On Thursday, TimesLIVE Premium found a quiet and almost deserted ConCourt when visiting at lunch time.
A security guard, who did not want to be identified, told TimesLIVE Premium their water has been restored.
“We have had some problems, but we have water again now,” the guard said.
The ladies of the Khulumani Galela Campaign, who have been sleeping outside the court building since November 2023, however, told TimesLIVE Premium they have been struggling with water issues.
“This week was better, but last week was difficult. The city even sent water trucks here twice last week,” one of the ladies told TimesLIVE Premium on Thursday.
Next door at the Constitution Hill tourism business, staff also complained of water issues.
“It was not only last week. For more than a month we have been struggling with intermittent water supply and abrupt dry spells,” a member of Constitution Hill's facilities team said on Thursday.
“The city does sometimes send water trucks, but their focus is on the community. Our customers come from the US, Europe, Argentina and hundreds of other countries around the globe. We cannot simply call them and tell them to visit us another day.”
Ablution is their biggest challenge.
“Even if the water truck comes, we struggle with the toilets. We need water to flush.”
The office of the chief justice said it held a meeting with officials from Johannesburg Water, who gave an unequivocal assurance that the apex court will not be experiencing any absence of water.
They said if a water outage is expected or experienced, the director of the Constitutional Court will be informed by Johannesburg Water, following which the court's water tank will be replenished with regularity to ensure that the court's operations can proceed unhindered.
“The above assurance has been presented to the chief justice as the head of the Constitutional Court who decided that physical hearings will again take place from November 19 until November 28 .”
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