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Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero is confident the metro can “step up” and fix dilapidated infrastructure before President Cyril Ramaphosa hosts world leaders in the city, as SA takes over the Group of 20 (G20) leadership for 2025.
Ramaphosa will take over the presidency of the G20, an intergovernmental forum, on December 1. The G20 is made up of 19 countries including China, France, Germany, UK and Russia.
Speaking at a council meeting on Wednesday, Morero assured councillors the municipality would address infrastructure issues before the summit.
“The City of Johannesburg, together with the City of Tshwane, are co-hosts of the G20. When it arrives, we should make sure that […] our infrastructure can handle the challenges that Johannesburg is faced with,” he said.
In the past few months parts of Johannesburg have been experiencing water supply issues caused by dwindling reservoir levels, high usage, maintenance and losses through leaks.
Morero said the metro did not have enough funds to fix leaks in the city but assured councillors the municipality had plans to address water issues.
In 2023, the department of water and sanitation reported water losses in Johannesburg amounted to 35%. The city has implemented water restrictions to prohibit residents from watering gardens, washing cars and filling swimming pools during peak hours.
“We are investing some resources in as far as fixing the leaks to ensure that we reduce the water losses. [As] part of the discussions between ourselves and Rand Water, provincial government is looking at options to raise money off balance sheet for us to be able to support the fixing of leaks. You are aware that we are currently not able to budget sufficiently to deal with the leaks,” Morero said.
“We have been allocating at least just about a billion rand per annum, which is aimed at helping us to deal with water leaks and water infrastructure. There is work that’s being done, we are also presenting some of our projects to the presidential infrastructure co-ordinating committee. We therefore call on our communities to try help us preserve this scarce water.”
The department of international relations and co-operation has an estimated budget of R497m to host G20 meetings from December to November 2025.
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