On Thursday, residents of Meadowlands, Soweto, entered their fourth day without electricity—and now face an additional hardship.
Johannesburg Water targets these Soweto areas with 12-hour water throttling
Johannesburg Water has announced daily 12-hour water throttling that will affect several areas, including Meadowlands, deepening an already severe service crisis in one of Johannesburg’s most densely populated townships.
According to a Johannesburg Water notice dated Tuesday, 8 July 2025, water supply to Meadowlands and other affected areas will be throttled from 14:00 to 04:00 each day.
This means the flow of water into the reservoirs will be closed off for 12 hours to help manage high consumption levels and maintain stability in the water system.
Water may still trickle through for a short while after valves are shut, but full pressure will not return until several hours after the scheduled reopening.
Meadowlands still in the dark, four days later
This measure comes amid an ongoing power outage that has crippled Meadowlands since Monday, 7 July 2025.
Eskom confirmed on Thursday that its repair teams are still working on cable faults affecting Zones 1 through 10 and Soteba.
These faults, caused by damage to underground cables, can result from weather conditions, aging infrastructure, or vandalism.
Eskom’s specialists, known as jointers, have been dispatched to manually fix the damaged lines.
“We discovered further faults causing delays in restoring supply to Jabulani, Mofolo North (Sgodiphola), and Zondi,” Eskom said.
“A test van and jointers have been dispatched to continue with cable repairs. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and assure you we are doing everything possible to restore supply.”
In other areas of Soweto, conditions remain unstable. Pimville and Dobsonville are on Day 2 of outages, while Jabulani, Sgodiphola, and Zondi are now in Day 3.
In Diepkloof, a transformer at the main substation tripped due to overloading.
Overloading happens when too much electricity is used at once, such as during peak times when multiple high-energy appliances are running. Eskom warned that overloaded systems can cause severe infrastructure damage or explosions.
Tensions are rising again in Meadowlands. A month ago, residents took to the streets in a protest sparked by extended power outages, according to GroundUp.
Roads were blocked with rocks and burning tyres, and the demonstration lasted three days.
“There is no communication. We just find ourselves with no electricity without knowing what the issue is,” Meadowlands resident Tshidiso Makamu told GroundUp.
Despite partial restorations in some areas like Diepkloof Zones 1 to 3 and 5, and Orlando East, most of Meadowlands remains in darkness—and now with limited water.
