water crisislatest news & developments
On the job: Maluti-a-Phofung municipal workers attending to electricity
connections in the area. Photo: Maluti-a-Phofung Communications

Thugs cut power, demand villagers pay

Criminals are allegedly extorting residents when the FS municipality fails to cough up for work they submitted claims for but that was never done

The Blue, Green and No Drop certification programmes are the department’s regulatory mechanisms to improve municipal drinking water quality, wastewater management, water conservation and demand management.

SA’s water crisis deepens: Nearly half of wastewater systems critical

The latest Green, Blue and No Drop reports show widespread deterioration of water and sanitation infrastructure. Nearly half of wastewater systems are critical, drinking water improvements are marginal and non-revenue water losses remain high in multiple provinces, highlighting urgent need for municipal investment and reform

The DA launched a billboard poking fun at Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s recent gaffe about water shortages. Image: Democratic Alliance

Solly Msimanga: Jacob Zuma has handed the shower to Panyaza Lesufi

Launching a billboard that pokes fun at the Gauteng premier’s recent gaffe about water shortages, the DA said the ANC had lost touch with voters and would lose its majority in all municipalities in the province later this year

Water crisis: Residents of Johannesburg protest outside a Joburg Water depot against water outages that have been taking place in the city. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

What South Africans think of municipalities

Reports have highlighted that a significant number of elected councillors struggle with basic literacy and comprehension

DA leader John Steenhuisen.

‘GNU responsible for country’s success’, MPs say in response to Ramaphosa’s Sona

Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen said much of the progress made ‘bears the unmistakable imprint of the DA’s principled participation’ in the government of national unity

Along with crime, water has become the single most important issue for many South Africans. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Water crisis rivals crime as top concern for South Africans, Ramaphosa says

The government is moving to establish a national water crisis committee, intervene in failing municipalities and hold municipal managers criminally accountable for persistent water outages

The Special Investigating Unit has welcomed a Special Tribunal ruling declaring the R646 million contract awarded to AECOM SA (Pty) Ltd for the emergency upgrading of the Thukela-Goedertrouw transfer scheme in KwaZulu-Natal constitutionally invalid

SIU wins R646 million contract case, AECOM ordered to repay state

The matter stems from a project intended to prevent the Richards Bay area from running out of water. The contract value was inflated from an initial R407m

HANDS-ON: Johanneburg Mayor Dada Morero has been spearheading countless cleaning-up operations
around the City lately. Photo: Supplied

You don’t need a summit to clean a city; you need consistency

The people of Johannesburg have cried many tears over the past decade and become accustomed to temporary service delivery ‘solutions’

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.

Opposition parties dismiss Lesufi’s State of the Province address as bluster without actionable plans

They criticised the Gauteng premier’s water and electricity solutions as misguided

Staff at Kutsakeni Primary say these boreholes at the school dried up in 2021. Now the school has asked learners to contribute R150 annually to fill their water tanks. Photos: Thembi Siaga

Learners pay R150 to fill water tanks at overcrowded, dilapidated Limpopo school

There are two boreholes at Kutsakeni Primary, but staff say they dried up in 2021

Data governance provides evidence-based decision-making that improves the quality of service delivery

Water widens the class divide

We’re driven by the hope that one day the rural areas we visit will have running taps like our own Joburg offices

Katse Dam in Lesotho is the largest of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project reservoirs, with a storage capacity of nearly 2-billion cubic metres.. (Walter Dhladlhla/Getty Images)

Joburg’s water woes are self-inflicted

The temporary shutdown of the supply from Lesotho is not the problem

New Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina. (David Harrison/M&G)

State water projects ‘held to ransom’ by construction mafia

New Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina says she will work with municipalities that are in debt, diversify water supply to include desalination and introduce measures to reduce water use levels

The survey found that although the proportion of respondents who are connected to piped water remains high (92% in 2023-24), the percentage of respondents who believe their water is “always clean” declined from 75% in 2020-21 to 60% in 2023-24. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP)

Water and sanitation department guns for 67 errant municipalities

Experts like civil engineers say it is not too late to save South Africa’s waterways from high levels of pollution

Running dry: Residents protest at South Hills reservoir. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Courts, criminal charges not an easy fix for water crisis

Municipalities have a history of defying adverse orders. Activists are trying to lay criminal charges against errant officials to end the impunity

Only a collective response will ensure water security and the per person use to a below a 170-litre future

Daily struggles and uncertain solutions as water chaos escalates

South Africans must learn to adapt, say experts, warning that the crisis will surpass load-shedding

Katse Dam

Vote 2024 | If you thought load-shedding sucked…

As South Africa approaches the 29 May national and provincial elections, the narrative has shifted from load-shedding to a crisis that hits even closer to home: water. Plus, Mapisa-Nqakula in the dock.

About seven billion litres of sewage are released every day into rivers and dams. (Andy Mkosi)

SA’s rivers and dams can no longer recover from pollution, say water scientists

About seven billion litres of sewage are released every day into rivers and dams This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free Account The Mail & Guardian is committed to providing all our readers with the best possible experience. Please register your free account now. Your registration is your first step to becoming an M&G community member. Register Registration enables: – M&G newsletters access – notifications – the best possible experience Already registered? Login here Want to subscribe and get even more benefits? Explore our subscription offers

South Africa is grappling with myriad challenges to its water security — droughts, inadequate water conservation measures, outdated infrastructure and unequal access to water resources.

Poor governance exacerbates South Africa’s water crisis

South Africa is a semi-arid country whose rainfall patterns are changing as a result of global warming, but incompetent governance is another factor that exacerbates water scarcity

Water activists last week “renamed” some of the country’s most polluted rivers. Here, eThekwini’s notoriously polluted Umgeni, was “renamed” to reflect consistently high levels of E-Coli, a direct result of poor maintenance of infrastructure. Photo: Des Erasmus

Mchunu calls on private sector to invest in water infrastructure

Government is investigating legislative reforms to strengthen enforcement when municipalities don’t provide clean water to residents