Gauteng High Court shut as mass Joburg water cuts hit again

13 Feb 2025

One ward councillor has advised residents to buy JoJo tanks as the city hits its fifth major water crisis in a year.

South Africa’s busiest high court in Johannesburg shut down on Thursday, 13 February after it was forced to halt proceedings because of what it called “ongoing water shortages”.

The city is experiencing a fifth major water crisis in just more than a year as residents report outages everywhere.

Ward 117 councillor Tim Truluck advised residents to buy JoJo tanks. “I would advise Joburgers to think about getting a JoJo tank or two to help you through the now ever-increasing multi-day outages and night throttling,” he said in a WhatsApp message, further helping residents to work out what they needed to last a five-day outage by studying household consumption.

Note: If you're reading this article in our app, click here to view the interactive chart of affected water supply areas in Johannesburg.

“So, to survive a five-day outage, you would need a 5 x 0.655 Kl = 3200 litres tank filled by municipal water,” he said.

The Gauteng High Court shut so quickly that it advised the public, court users and lawyers: “Affected parties will be contacted regarding alternative arrangements for all matters scheduled on the court roll for the day.”

In November 2024, the Constitutional Court too was closed because of water shortages. At the time, the City introduced stage 1 and 2 water restrictions, which includes nightly throttling.

The City has never formally explained what throttling means or how it will be scheduled, so people are left scrambling to work out why tapped water to individual homes or informal settlements disappears at night. Daily Maverick reporter Julia Evans reports here that informal settlements are being cut at such a high rate that campaigners have started a social justice lobby to stop it.

Read more: Joburg’s water restrictions set to tighten further as crisis deepens

Daily Maverick reported here that the City loses half of its so-called non-revenue water to leaks, which are a major cause of the crisis. Reports show that the water cuts are generalised across the city. On 4 February, Joburg Water said there had been an 8% increase in consumption between December 2024 and January 2025 once people got back to the city as it implemented throttling every night. DM

This is a developing story.

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