‘SA needs a wake-up call before it’s too late’: Urgent action needed to address water crisis

South Africa faces a water management crisis, with government officials revealing alarming details about widespread municipal water treatment failures and environmental degradation.

During a national water and sanitation indaba on Friday, speakers highlighted the urgent need for comprehensive reforms and immediate interventions to address the country’s deteriorating water infrastructure.

Water pollution threat

Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation Sello Seithlolo emphasised the severe consequences of municipal negligence.

“South Africans don’t protest because there is sewage in our rivers and dams,” he stated.

“They protest because there is no water coming out of their taps.”

Seithlolo stressed that municipalities in Gauteng are discharging 1.5 billion litres of raw sewage daily into critical water resources like the Vaal and Harts rivers.

He warned that this pollution threatens the entire water value chain, potentially forcing municipalities to spend millions treating contaminated water or risk providing water that fails potable standards.

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Legal action against municipalities

The department has taken legal action against underperforming municipalities.

Notably, the Govan Mbeki Municipality was fined more than R200 million, and another municipality in Mpumalanga was fined R560 million.

However, Seithlolo highlighted a critical systemic problem: the money from these fines does not go to the Water and Sanitation Department to fund infrastructure repairs.

MK party MP and Cogta portfolio committee member Visvin Reddy criticised the lengthy timelines proposed for addressing the water crisis.

“There is a crisis right now,” Reddy said, proposing the establishment of “war rooms” initiated by the department and using water boards to monitor and address immediate municipal crises.

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Ecosystem and economic impact

The environmental consequences are dire.

“Please go and look at how many rivers and dams where there are crepes and where there are fishes that you know were there 50 years ago,” Seithlolo implored.

He highlighted how water pollution is not just an environmental issue but an economic one, with contamination leading to beach closures, business disruptions and potential job losses.

Attendance and accountability

Despite the gravity of the situation, six out of 27 municipalities with underperforming systems did not attend the water indaba.

Municipal members present suggested these absent municipalities should be summoned to account before the water and sanitation portfolio committee.

“We must catch a wake-up call before it’s too late,” Seithlolo passionately concluded.

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