Mangaung metro issued an urgent public notice on Thursday (29/1), confirming that technical teams are currently on-site battling an infrastructure failure. The interruption, which began in the early hours of Thursday, has left high-traffic areas and neighbourhoods in a state of distress.

Areas under siege

The disruption is particularly acute around the CBD. According to the municipal notice, areas south of Naval Hill, including parts of Hilton, have been affected.

While the city claims to be working with urgency, the DA is demanding immediate accountability. It has submitted formal questions to city manager Sello More regarding the municipality’s consistent failure to meet its own service targets.

These inquiries highlight several critical infrastructure failures that continue to plague the region, most notably the lack of progress in addressing the sanitation backlog that leaves 79,000 households without access to proper services.

“Repairs to thousands of water bursts and leaks are still delayed, with response times exceeding the required 24 to 48-hour legislative window,” said Cllr. Dirk Kotze. The water crisis is costing the city a lot of money, he added. 

Because of old, rusty pipes, about 51% of the city’s water leaks away before it reaches people’s homes. This costs the city nearly half a billion rand annually.

No updates

To stop this loss, the city promised to install new water meters. However, Kotze says there have been no updates on the 13,293 new meters or the 10,000 prepaid units that were planned. 

The waiting list for prepaid water meters has reached 20,000. 

The metro cannot say when the water supply will be restored, stating only “as soon as repairs are completed”.

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OFM News/Refilwe Bekane