Joburg residents panic buy water, storage containers ahead of 58-hour water cut

Panic-stricken Johannesburg residents are stripping retail store shelves bare after Rand Water announced that large parts of Johannesburg will experience a 58-hour water outage due to upgrades of its Eikenhof pump station.

In scenes similar to those from the Covid-19 lockdown, customers have been panic buying vast amounts of bottled water and storage containers.

This has left food retailers such as Pick n Pay, Checkers, and Spar under pressure to replenish stock quickly, as late customers demand more supply.

West Pack, Crazy Plastics, and Oasis have also seen a surge in foot traffic as customers have been buying large storage containers in numbers.

Pick n Pay and Checkers

Checkers and Pick n Pay at Ferndale on Republic have, since Saturday, seen five-litre bottles of water fly off shelves amid soaring demand, particularly aQuellé, Bonaqua, Nestlé, Clover, and store brands.

“Most of these brands are in demand, from Nestlé, Clover, aQuellé, Thirsti, and others,” said one Checkers sales assistant. “Earlier this morning, we had five-litres [bottles] of Thirsti water filling almost the entire store, but we’ve now run out.

Since most suppliers only bring stock on certain days of the week, customers must wait until they can buy more.

“Clover, for example, delivers on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Customers will have to wait. If they don’t have water containers for us to fill, then they’ll have to wait,” said the sales assistant.

“Clover, for example, delivers on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Customers will have to wait. If they don’t have water containers for us to fill, then they’ll have to wait,” said the sales assistant.

An empty water shelf at Pick n Pay Ferndale on Republic.

Water shelves becoming empty at Checkers Ferndale on Republic

Spar

Spar in Blairgowrie also saw a surge in sales for five-litre bottles of water, especially the Spar brand, which is the cheapest at R24.99.

“Demand has been very high since the announcement. We received a lot of sales,” said store manager, Chrispen Moyo. “They’re buying five litres in boxes and [are] also filling up with our purified water.”

Bottled water at Spar Blairgowrie

Purified water at Spar getting refilled

Oasis

According to Busi Dlamini, a sales assistant at Oasis Water, Ferndale on Republic, foot traffic to the store has been very high since the weekend, with many buying large storage containers and water.

“We’re getting a lot of customers, especially new customers coming in for containers and water –  like 100 litres of water. It’s a lot,” she told News24.

Customers wait in line to fill up water containers and buy more bottled water at Oasis Ferndale

Dlamini said the fastest-selling containers are the 25-litre containers, which are the largest in the store.

“Each costs R240, and some [people] buy six of those. They’ve also been buying the 20 litres and the 10 litres. Some order five of those at a time,” she said.

Since the water tank at Oasis fills up at night, there will be enough stock for one more day only until water is restored in the area.

One customer fills up her water bottles ahead of the water cut

Crazy Plastics

At Crazy Plastics in Ferndale on Republic, 20- and 25-litre buckets, Jerry cans, 10- and 20-litre water bottles with taps, and water drums with taps have also been flying off the shelves.

“From Saturday, we started selling out like crazy,” said one sales assistant. “Yesterday we received stock, but by the end of the day, everything was sold out.”

Water conatiners with taps selling out fast at Crazy Plastics Ferndale on Republic

The sales assistant said the store received additional stock of water drums between 25 to 100 litres, but they also sold out by close of business.

Remaining water containers at Crazy Plastics

West Pack

West Pack Blairgowrie recently replenished its 25-litre plastic water bottles, and it’s first come, first served.

“I ran out of stock on Saturday already. People have just been collecting buckets, water containers and everything they can store water in.

Water containers at West Pack Blairgowrie

“I received nine bales today and now I’m down to two bales. We’re not taking orders. First come, first served, because keeping stock aside for people is so difficult. If I were to keep for everybody, we’d be out already,” said manager at West Pack Blairgowrie, Anthony Louw

news24.com