Johannesburg high court closed due to severe water shortage

By Mark Ogagan

The high court in Johannesburg was forced to temporarily shut its doors on Thursday because of the ongoing water outages affecting the city.

“Members of the public, court users and legal practitioners are advised that the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Johannesburg, will temporarily close at 11h00 on Thursday due to the ongoing water shortage affecting the greater Johannesburg area,” a statement from the office of the chief justice said.

Affected parties would be contacted regarding alternative arrangements for all matters scheduled on the court roll for the day, it added.

On Wednesday, bulk water supplier Rand Water warned that its systems were “dropping fast” because of extremely high water consumption by its customers, the cities of Johannesburg and Tshwane, as illustrated in weekly consumption figures.

“Rand Water continues to supply at maximum capacity, however, the storage is declining rapidly owing to high-water consumption … The upward trend in water consumption requires customers to implement interventions to bring consumption down.

“The consumption patterns observed from the City of Johannesburg … show an upward trajectory despite efforts to bring this consumption down,” it said.

It attributed the drop in consumption in mid-December 2024 to Rand Water’s maintenance efforts, noting that consumption “shot up immediately after the completion”. Equally, the City of Tshwane is “going the wrong way”, said the bulk supplier.

It called on Johannesburg and Tshwane to reduce their consumption to “avoid system collapse”, which would inevitably affect other customers as well.

“The water systems are interlinked and high consumption in one area impacts on the sustainable provision in other areas. Water conservation is a joint responsibility that must be observed and practised by all to ensure sustainable and equitable supply and provision.”