Joburg Water gets tough on illegal connections

Joburg Water is grappling with a problem of illegal connections and is often met with resistance from residents when it sets out to disconnect them.

The entity said these connections were contributing to loss of revenue and high consumption, among other things.

The entity's senior water manager, Logan Munsamy, on Thursday told Sowetan they were ramping up efforts to address illegal connections and recover millions in unpaid bills.

A few weeks ago, the entity could only disconnect 2% of these people at Phumlamqashi informal settlement in Lenasia, south of the city, as residents fought back.

Sowetan (SWT): What exactly are the financial implications?

Logan Munsamy (LM): The financial losses caused by illegal connections and unpaid water bills are substantial, with some buildings owing amounts as high as R15-million. We cut eight bad buildings last week… Some of them were [owing] like R15-million, some R8-million, some R1-million, some R500,000. It varies but it’s not small money.

SWT: Is there a risk of reconnections?

LM: Correct and in some cases, it happens. So, remember, there’s only so much you can do. Typically, when we talk about illegal connections, like the one we went out to in Phumlamqashi, they’re physically connected to [Joburg Water] pipes. In other cases, we don’t remove the entire connection and it’s in those cases we find that some people are tempted to come back and reconnect.

SWT: What is being done to mitigate the connections because informal settlements will always be against the cutting off?

LM: What we’re doing now is we’re excavating and we’re getting right to the pipe where the [illegal] connection is and cutting it off… It’s a deterrent because we’re not policing that site.

SWT: Is this one of the financial burdens that hurt the entity's pockets that could be redirected somewhere else?

LM: When people illegally connect into our system, we have to take a plumber team with trucks and resources to go there and Metro police. Pay people. Get police officers [to assist with security]. It’s time, it’s material, it’s labour.

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