Ramaphosa did not directly answer the question on water tanker beneficiaries, instead repeating that the crisis committee's plan was being implemented.
A boy fetches water with his little brother in Nana’s Farm informal settlement, south of Johannesburg, on 5 November 2025. Picture: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images
President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the government is urgently addressing the water crisis affecting several communities in Gauteng.
He was speaking to the media on Sunday while on the campaign trail in Orange Farm, ahead of the local government elections on 4 November 2026.
Boreholes and reticulation to ease water shortages
Ramaphosa said he had established a National Water Crisis Committee that had drawn up a plan to address water shortages nationwide.
According to Ramaphosa, “the issue of water is being attended to on an urgent basis”.
He said the plan involved drilling boreholes and repairing reticulation systems to get water to households faster.
Ramaphosa pointed to Hammanskraal, which he had visited weeks earlier, as an example of progress. “We’ve already installed boreholes, and they’re already reticulating water even though it is in the street, but people are getting water,” he said.
The president added that the Department of Water and Sanitation was working to resolve the crisis.
“They are pulling out all stops to address the water situation,” Ramaphosa said.
He said Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi will visit the area during the week to assess progress, with the matter also due to be discussed by the crisis committee on Tuesday.
Water tankers described as permanent fixture
It was put to Ramaphosa that water tankers, meant to be a temporary measure, had become entrenched in several areas across the country, including Hammanskraal and Orange Farm.
He was asked when residents could expect a lasting solution and who continued to benefit from the tanker system.
Ramaphosa did not directly answer the question on tanker beneficiaries, instead repeating that the crisis committee’s plan was being implemented.
“So we now have a national plan that is going to fully address the challenge of water,” he said.
National Water Action Plan released in July
Ramaphosa released the National Water Action Plan (NWAP) on Thursday, 23 July 2026, following a meeting of the National Water Crisis Committee, known as Watercom, at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The presidency said the plan “sets out a focused, programmatic series of actions to ensure a reliable supply of quality water to all South Africans, aiming to address the root causes of the water supply challenges in many municipalities”.
The presidency stated that the NWAP outlined interventions to be implemented over the short, medium and long term.
It said the plan included “a strategy to increase investment in infrastructure, including through private sector investment; to implement legal and regulatory reforms to improve municipal service delivery; and to address corruption and criminality in the water sector”.
Watercom was established by the presidency in response to the worsening water crisis in certain parts of the country.
“The NWAP identifies the root cause of the crisis as an inappropriate delivery model for water services,” the presidency said.
It added that this was “characterised by the absence of ring-fencing as water revenues are often used to fund other municipal functions, reducing the resources available for water infrastructure maintenance, investment and hiring skilled staff”.
