Johannesburg – The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling on Rand Water to immediately reconsider its unreasonable water shutdown scheduled for mid-December, which threatens to deprive millions of Johannesburg residents of their Christmas celebrations.

Rand Water has announced that it will perform maintenance at the Eikenhof Pump Station from 13 to 16 December, resulting in an 86-hour interruption in water services.

In reaction to this news, Nicole van Dyk, the DA Johannesburg Shadow MMC for Infrastructure, commented: “Rand Water risks becoming the Grinch who steals Christmas if it doesn’t delay this poorly thought-out water shutdown.”

Van Dyk added: “The timing of Rand Water’s December maintenance schedule in Johannesburg illustrates a significant lack of foresight and complete mismanagement.

“This maintenance work is estimated to take 86 hours, from 13 December to 16 December; however, prior experiences suggest that maintenance schedules seldom adhere to timelines, often resulting in extended delays for the restoration of water supply.”

Van Dyk highlighted that the upcoming maintenance of both the Eikenhof and Zwartkopjes pump stations will disrupt water access for hundreds of thousands of households.

“Historically, this very system, even with additional water supplied by Rand Water to mitigate issues, has taken up to two weeks to recover after maintenance,” Van Dyk elaborated.

“Taking two weeks to recover during the hottest month of the year, while families attempt to spend quality time together, is utterly unacceptable – especially with taps running dry.

“The DA urges Rand Water to reconsider this catastrophic plan; failure to maintain pump stations adequately throughout the year should not rob Joburg residents of their Christmas festivities.

“This appears to be more of an ‘emergency repair’ than a carefully planned maintenance operation. If it truly is an ‘emergency,’ Rand Water must be held accountable in the strongest possible terms.

“We will contact both Rand Water and Johannesburg Water to request a rescheduling of this process to ensure that Rand Water doesn’t become the Grinch that steals Christmas.”