Water will take centre stage in the reforms President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce in his State of the Nation Address.

Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina and Cooperative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa were instructed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to return to Johannesburg before his State of the Nation Address (Sona), to deal with the metro's worsening water crisis.

Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magweyna confirmed to Daily Maverick that the president had ordered Hlabisa and Majodina to "urgently" attend to the water crisis in Johannesburg, as the City's water system again teetered on collapse.

Both Hlabisa and Majodina were already in Cape Town to attend Ramaphosa's Sona on Thursday night, when plans changed.

"They won't be attending [the] Sona as a result," Magwenya said. "The president finds the Johannesburg water crisis deeply distressing and wants to have it resolved as soon as possible. He is equally concerned about reported water shortages in other parts of the country.

"Water is certainly going to be one of the central features of the reforms the president will be announcing tonight, and he will be keeping a close eye on both the immediate and long-term interventions," he said.

There has been growing political pressure for Ramaphosa to intervene in Joburg's ongoing water crisis, after a multi-system failure left many parts of the city with dry...