MALEBO KOBE: Dry taps to raw sewage - exposing South Africa’s water crisis

South Africa’s water crisis is not merely a natural disaster; it is a man-made catastrophe fuelled by incompetence, denialism, and corruption, permeating every level of governance, from municipalities to the National Department.

While our taps run dry, Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina recently blithely declared, "There is no crisis."

Really, Minister?

The Blue Drop Report begs to differ, revealing that half of our drinking water fails to meet safety standards, while 47% is wasted due to crumbling infrastructure. From Johannesburg to the villages of Giyani, from the Vaal to Coega, the consequences of these failures are felt nationwide. Our country cannot survive when taps run dry.

This is not rocket science. The writing has been on the wall for years: population growth outpaced our water infrastructure, yet local and national leaders have carelessly ignored every warning.

When municipalities do act, such as with the construction of Limpopo’s new 6-megalitre Seshego purification plant, it is too little too late. I visited the community there two weeks ago and the 80,000 residents are still enduring constant water cuts. Schools are shutting down, businesses are struggling, and the people of Sheshego continue to suffer.

Where the national department is prodded into action in places such as Makhanda where – R400 million and a decade later – the James Kleynhans Water Treatment Plant is still not fully operational. The town’s taps remain dry, forcing schools and Rhodes University to close periodically.

The National Department also fails in its core competencies. Projects like dam construction and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project or Clanwilliam Dam project are stuck in perpetual delays, crippled by corruption and mismanagement. 

LOFTY PRIMISES, ABYSMAL FAILURES

In August, South Africa sent a delegation to Stockholm for World Water Week, posturing as champions of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6: Universal Access to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation. Yet back home, half our citizens don’t have reliable access to clean water. You cannot be a global leader when your own house is in chaos.

We are seeing a trend where climate change is blamed for water failures, and admittedly there is cause for concern, with increasingly erratic rainfall and rising temperatures affecting water and food security. But blaming climate change without fixing basic governance is a cop-out. We need infrastructure that can withstand these pressures, but with this government it seems like basic maintenance seems an ask too much.

The blame game between municipalities, water boards, and government departments is nauseating. Municipalities cry foul over breached contracts; water boards point to unpaid bills. It’s a bureaucratic circus, and South Africans are paying the price.

A PLAN TO FIX THE CRISIS

There is hope, however, as seen in Tshwane, where ActionSA has been advocating for solutions to the water crisis in Hammanskraal. This effort began with litigation spanning several years to expose the alarming water quality issues in the area.

The root of the problem lies in the mismanaged and corruption-tainted upgrades to the Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Plant under the previous Democratic Alliance (DA)-led administration.

The Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade project is now receiving the required improvements through a partnership with the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Dr Nasiphi Moya, while serving as deputy mayor, led the mayoral committee responsible for overseeing the Rooiwal WWTP project. Dr Moya, now mayor of Tshwane, remains steadily active on the project’s inspection and progress.

South Africa doesn’t need more empty promises; it needs action. These bold, immediate reforms are key to pull us back from the brink:

1. Streamline Infrastructure: Merge the Department of Water and Sanitation with the Infrastructure Department to cut red tape and improve efficiency.
2. Redirect Wasteful Spending: Reallocate the R5 billion allocated currently spent on the never-ending war in DRC to half the number of leaks in three years.
3. Conserve Water: Implement punitive pricing for the largest water wasters.
4. Build Smarter: Progressively update construction codes to for water-resilience.
5. Fast-Track Planning: Accelerate the implementation of the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan to get real results.
6. Municipalities: Professionalisation of the workforce as a matter of urgency.

Water is life, and South Africans deserve better than excuses, delays, and environmental neglect.

It was ActionSA’s parliamentary question to Forestry and Fisheries Minister Dion George that exposed the alarming truth that the City of Cape Town has been allowed to discharge unlimited volumes of untreated sewage into the ocean, including over 30 million litres daily into a Marine Protected Area.

The fight for solutions that prioritise water security and environmental health is unwavering—because South Africa’s future depends on it.

Malebo Kobe is an ActionSA Member of Parliament.