A new system introduced by Joburg Water to deal with service delivery complaints from residents is not working well as staff are struggling to grasp it.
The utility’s latest quarterly report for July-September 2025 reveals an entity in crisis.
Among the issues raised are that:
- Staff do not understand how to work a new field services management system, resulting in delays in resolving problems;
- Only 41.27% of water bursts were repaired within 48 hours, way off the target of 90%;
- Only 66% of sewer blockages were resolved within 24 hours, against a target of 95%;
- The number of bursts per month rose to an average of 4,519, from 2,960 for the same period in 2024;
- Performance standards stipulating that response teams should attend to a minimum of three major bursts and three other water-related jobs in any given day were not met;
- Staff remuneration ballooned past the budgeted R470m to R523m. Of the excess, R38.2m was attributed to overtime costs; and
- Of the performance contracts that 2,675 employees were meant to sign, only 421 — about one in six — did so.
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