The capital city of South Africa, Johannesburg, was hit by an unprecedented water shortage
South Africa's largest city, Johannesburg, which is also the country's economic capital, has been experiencing a severe water shortage for more than two weeks now due to the collapse of its water system.
Reports from Johannesburg say, the rich and poor residents of the city with about six million people, have never witnessed such a severe shortage of water, which is believed to have also been caused by the hot weather that caused water reserves in the dams to decrease.
However, the crumbling and deteriorating infrastructure after decades of neglect is also believed to contribute to the worsening of the water shortage.
A report published last year by the National Department of Water and Sanitation of South Africa showed that 40% of the water used in the Municipalities of the city of Johannesburg is lost through leakage, which is also contributed by broken pipes.
Activists and residents of Johannesburg who are angered by the situation say that this is the result of not addressing the problem for several years, blaming what they call the bad management of the relevant officials for failing to repair the dilapidated water infrastructure early.
Over the weekend, the water management authority in Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, told officials from both cities that failure to reduce water use could lead to a complete collapse of the water system, because water reservoirs they would drop below 10% capacity and need to be turned off to be recharged.
Complaints made by the people due to the problem are described by South African political analysts as a sign of danger for the ruling party of the African National Congress, ANC, which has been in power since the era of apartheid in the 1990s, due to being faced with the biggest challenge in the general election to be held in May.../
