Residents of Westbury, Johannesburg, took to the streets today in frustration over water shortages in their area. They barricaded roads with burning tyres and rocks demanding to speak to their councillor, whom they claim has turned a blind eye on their situation.

FRUSTRATED

Frustrated residents complained that there's no logic of Joburg Water filling their taps at midnight. "We only have water from from midnight to 7am , so if we want to do laundry or anything that requires sufficient water it has to be at midnight, there's no sense in this and honestly one can only fill a certain number of buckets before they are tired and want to go bed," a resident who refused to be named said.She added that they have two old age homes in their area and their elderly suffering. "Can you imagine an Ouma carrying a bucket to flush the toilet after she has relieved herself, it's not fair. We want our councillor to come and talk to us, we voted her in but she seems unbothered."

BOARD MUST GO

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance picketed outside the Joburg Water offices to hand over a memorandum to dissolve the Joburg Water Board.

The first DA memorandum was submitted to the office of the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Dada Morero, calling for the dissolution of the cadre-appointed board of Johannesburg Water; and the second was handed to the Office of the Speaker of the Johannesburg Council, Cllr Nobuhle Mthembu, urging the Speaker to ensure that these processes are properly implemented.

The party's Johannesburg caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku said the ANC/ActionSA/EFF/PA coalition governing the City is driving the City of Johannesburg into the ground and it cannot be allowed to continue. "Their practices of cadre deployment and misgovernance are now clearly failing.Residents have the right to service and the right to transparency when services are at risk. Hundreds of thousands of people face water outages daily in Johannesburg. There can be no true relationship when nothing is being done to address the crisis," said Kayser-Echeozonjoku. She said the alternative from the DA is now unavoidable: "Dissolve the board of Johannesburg Water, reconstitute it with those who have the necessary technical expertise to fix the mess created by cadres and stop our taps from running dry," she added.