NATIONAL NEWS - Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi has apologised to residents of the City of Johannesburg who have been without water for days, after suggesting they shower at hotels.

Lesufi was slammed on social media on Wednesday for his comments, with many accusing him of being insensitive to the plight of residents battling a deepening water crisis in Joburg.

Many said they do not have the money or the luxury to shower at a hotel.

‘Smell me’  

Joburg mayor Dada Morero admitted that residents who have not had water at all are in “day zero”, and on Wednesday, an angry resident confronted him about the crisis.

“You can smell me. I haven’t had water for 24 days. But that apart, it’s been a year that we don’t have water at night…Brixton, right here behind me.”

Hotel showers

However, Lesufi seemed insensitive to the plight of residents who are battling the water crisis.

“I also experience water shortages, and in certain instances, I had to go to a certain hotel so that I could bathe and go to my commitments.”

‘Special water’

Lesufi claimed that officials don’t get “special water.”

“People think that if there is no water, then ourselves and our families get special water. We don’t… we also go through the same inconveniences like any other person. There is no special water or pipe designed to serve other people. Our families, our relatives, our constituencies suffer the same pain.

“We don’t have water when the community doesn’t have water, but what we have is the responsibility to fix the problem, and the problem is almost fixed,” said Lesufi.

Watch (Video:  @DAGauteng, X)

Apology

Realising the insensitivity of his remarks, Lesufi later apologised to residents.

“Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, wishes to sincerely apologise for any misunderstanding or offence caused by a statement he made while clarifying comments during a media briefing addressing water challenges in the province,” his spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga, said.

“The Premier acknowledges that his statement, in which he made reference to a hotel, may have been interpreted in a manner that suggested that the impact of water challenges differs based on one’s position in society. This was never his intention.”

Article: Caxton publication, The Citizen

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