Fixing SA’s water crisis starts with accountability

In a country where access to water is a constitutional right, South Africans are increasingly finding themselves at the mercy of dry taps, leaking and bursting pipes and failing infrastructure.

Behind localised water crisis lies a story of growing deliberate sabotage, entrenched corruption and systemic neglect.

The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), in its recent policy brief, paints a grim picture of how “water mafias,” vandalism and institutional failures have combined to erode the water systems and public trust.

According to the latest statistics, 77.1% of households have access to an improved water source (2024) – down from 80.4% in 2023. For many communities, even this access is unreliable or nonexistent for months due to theft, nonfunctioning infrastructure and even failure to deliver water tanks.

Some in the City of Joburg have gone without water for weeks with poor communication regarding the location of stationary or roaming water tankers.

Compounding the issue is high water demands and non-revenue water – treated water lost to leaks, illegal connections and poor revenue collection. Estimates suggest that 40%-50% – or more – of water is lost before reaching consumers, a staggering inefficiency.

ALSO READ: Joburg’s water woes continue with some reservoirs at critical levels

The Presidential Water And Sanitation Indaba and the recent SAHRC report highlight a troubling trend: the deliberate destruction and manipulation of water infrastructure by criminal syndicates for profit.

These “water mafias” exploit infrastructure failures for profit. In parts of Gauteng, syndicates are reportedly closing valves, damaging pipelines and disrupting pump stations – only to resell water through tankers at inflated prices.

Residents are forced to pay these informal suppliers while municipal systems remain crippled by the very sabotage that created the demand.

Vulnerable, poor and rural communities bear the brunt of these disruptions, often going days or weeks without safe, potable water. Public health risks are rising, hygiene suffers and frustration mounts.

The effects are not theoretical – they can be deadly. In 2023, a cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal led to at least 20 deaths, traced to contaminated and poorly treated water. In a nation where water infrastructure is failing, with poor oversight at municipal level, the chance for such outbreaks become more likely.

Economically, the water crisis undermines productivity, business continuity and investor confidence.

ALSO READ: Bottled water demand spikes amid outages, here’s how much it costs at 6 stockists

When water is scarce or unpredictable, industry slows, agriculture suffers and job security weakens. For a developing economy already facing instabilities, the water crisis adds yet another layer of systemic risk.

The SAHRC report rightly identifies persistent dysfunction with 105 water service authorities, legally tasked with ensuring affordable, efficient and sustainable access to basic water and sanitation services.

Yet many municipalities’ procurement processes remain vulnerable to manipulation and political interference.

Maintenance budgets are often cut or diverted and few face consequences for project failures. Sabotage of water systems can be considered as an attack on public safety and human rights, but prosecutions remain low. While the picture is bleak, it is not beyond repair.

The SAHRC outlines recommendations that deserve swift and decisive implementation to protect the whole water value chain from threats:

• Critical infrastructure should be secured and monitored with real-time technology community-based surveillance programmes,
• The department of water and sanitation and National Treasury, in collaboration with the cooperative governance and traditional affairs department, are implementing the ring-fencing of revenue collected for water, to ensure that funds collected for water and sanitation services are reinvested into infrastructure;
• Build municipalities’ capacity with skilled staff, regular audits and clear consequence management for non-performance;
• Protect whistle-blowers and investigate major cases through the Special Investigating Unit and the National Prosecuting Authority; and
• Treat sabotage as organised crime, not petty vandalism, requiring strengthened inter-agency collaboration.

ALSO READ: Water outages continue in Gauteng due to maintenance

As in all solutions or strategies to be implemented, civil society has a major role to play.

Continued public pressure, good quality investigative journalism and legal activism are essential to hold officials and contractors accountable.

Greater transparency is needed, particularly around multimillion-rand water tanker tenders. Communities must be engaged, not just as recipients of services, but made to reduce their water use and be co-stewards of public infrastructure.

Rebuilding this partnership, however, will be difficult in the face of growing mistrust, driven by frequent and long water outages with little warning or explanation.

South Africa’s water crisis is a reflection of broader governance failures. Broken pipes are seen as broken promises. Infrastructure can be repaired and legislation amended, but public trust is harder to restore.