Johannesburg · South Africa · News Sources: English, Zulu, Afrikaans

Campaigning without water: Ramaphosa canvasses Soweto – and mostly hears about dry taps

Nine days before municipal elections, President Cyril Ramaphosa went door to door in Soweto. Many residents welcomed him warmly, but nearly every conversation turned to the same issues: days without water, a lack of jobs and crime.

Weltpuls newsroom · 26 October, 22:04 · 2 min read

Mood in the countryDivided

Anger Hope Uncertainty

What happened

On Sunday, ANC leader and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited households in Diepkloof, Soweto. The occasion is the 4 November municipal elections, which will also decide who runs the Johannesburg metro. Ramaphosa said he was confident his party would regain an outright majority and defended the ANC's 32-year record in government: Soweto's development showed that the positives outweigh the negatives, even if there had been missteps.

The numbers are against him. The ANC won 62 percent in Johannesburg in 2006 but only 33 percent in 2021. A MarkData poll puts the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) at 35 percent and the ANC at 21.8 percent, followed by the MK Party, the EFF and ActionSA. A separate Social Research Foundation poll paints a similar picture. No party appears on course for a majority of its own.

The city faces serious problems: according to Daily Maverick, more than 40 percent of water is lost before it is billed, and the infrastructure backlog exceeds 185 billion rand.

The mood on the ground

Dozens of residents gathered in Diepkloof, many in ANC colours, and gave the president a warm reception. But they also used the moment to vent their frustration openly. Most complained about taps that had been dry for days, as well as unemployment and rising crime.

One woman confronted Ramaphosa directly about the water crisis. A resident pointed out the irony of the president campaigning in a neighbourhood with no water because supply was being throttled. Deputy Mayor Loyiso Masuku promised water would return that afternoon and explained that Diepkloof's network was built for about 6,800 people, while more than 38,000 now live there.

The discontent extends well beyond Soweto. In the MarkData poll, almost seven in ten respondents said Johannesburg had been badly run over the past five years, and about 61 percent rated water management as poor. Three quarters blamed the ANC for poor services.

Voices from the media

EWN · JohannesburgThe broadcaster contrasts Ramaphosa's confidence with years of declining support and stresses that residents were friendly but audibly frustrated.

IOL · Durban/JohannesburgIOL focuses on Ramaphosa's defence of the ANC's record and notes critics who accuse city governments of waste and neglected infrastructure.

Business Day · JohannesburgThe business daily reads the polls as a sign of fragmenting urban politics, with the ANC under pressure but the DA also short of a majority.

Sources

This article was rewritten from local-language sources. Every statement about the mood is based on the linked reports.