Water crisis: Nothing less than an emergency

In a water-scarce country like ours, conservation of the precious resource will become ever more important in the years ahead.

As our population grows, there won’t be enough to go around. That is the reality we live with – and there are ways to cope with what will always be a stress point in our society.

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However, on top of the vagaries of the weather and our geographical location, it now appears that human greed and incompetence are threatening to make the water crisis even worse.

Large parts of South Africa could soon be without water due to mounting municipal debt, parliament’s portfolio committee on water and sanitation chair Leonard Jones has warned.

His comment came after officials from the department of water and sanitation revealed to lawmakers that the country is just months away from a devastating water crisis, with municipalities owing a staggering R22.36 billion to water boards as of June 2024.

The debt, accumulated since 2019, has increased by 151% to date.

Water boards could face bankruptcy within the next six to 12 months due to insufficient cash to pay for operating activities.

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The portfolio committee was told that Vaal Central Water and Magalies Water are of most concern.

There have been repeated reports, over a number of years, about the inexorable collapse of many of our municipalities, due to a variety of reasons.

Prominent among them is corruption, which has removed hundreds of billions of rands which should be used on services.

Then, in many towns, residents fail to pay for services because they know there will be no consequences.

Finally, the ANC-deployed cadres in some municipalities have been unable to deliver a professional service to their communities.

This is nothing less than a national emergency and the government needs to take strong measures in line with the gravity of that situation.