There was a disruption to services at the Johannesburg Water's Ennerdale Depot after employees downed tools out of fear after two vehicles were hijacked in the past week.
The incidents happened while employees were on duty in Ennerdale, the south of Johannesburg.
This resulted in staff members embarking on a sit-in strike after citing safety and security concerns relating to the hijackings experienced.
The utility said that the situation will compromise the service delivery as the depot will not be fully operational.
At the City Power, two vehicles were also hijacked and later recovered, when four technicians who had reported to a fault in Lenasia were assaulted, robbed and made to transfer money from their cellphones.
City Power has warned residents that it would not hesitate to withdraw its services in areas where it could not guarantee the safety of its employees. Police are investigating a case of kidnapping and car jacking.
Consequently, Joburg Water indicated that logged calls for issues such as burst pipes and leaking water meters will take longer to attend to.
It said the matter will be handled and addressed accordingly as it has been escalated to the executive management team for review. It added that counselling services will also be arranged for the affected employees.
Furthermore, Joburg Water appealed to communities not to disrupt the entity's employees when delivering water and sanitation services which are essential.
Last week, Joburg residents suffered a massive water outage that lasted for 58 hours.
Meanwhile, Johannesburg City Power warned residents it would no longer replace service cables that connected homes with its infrastructure after spending R188 million in one year replacing stolen cables.
The power utility said it had to cut down on the massive cost that was disturbing them to focus necessary resources on its core business, supplying electricity to Joburg homes and businesses.
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