WaterCAN: ‘Long overdue’ action must be matched by delivery

Advocacy group WaterCAN says President Cyril Ramaphosa’s warning that municipal managers who fail to ensure a steady water supply will face personal criminal charges is long overdue.

“WaterCAN notes that President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed water security and the criminality that thrives when taps run dry on the national agenda during the 2026 State of the Nation Address,” the organisation said.

“This focus reflects years of sustained pressure from communities, civil society and activists across South Africa. It is long overdue. The real test, as always with SONA commitments, will be implementation,” said WaterCAN executive director Dr Ferrial Adam.

Adam acknowledged Ramaphosa’s recognition of the water and sanitation crisis but warned it followed years of denial and deflection by senior political leaders.

She said the scale of collapse in water and sanitation infrastructure warrants a far stronger response, including consideration of declaring a national disaster on water and sanitation infrastructure.

“Communities are not protesting because of drought. They are protesting because infrastructure is collapsing, maintenance is neglected, and corruption and organised criminality have been allowed to hollow out water services,” Adam said.

She added that water activists who raise these issues are too often met with intimidation and violence, pointing to incidents in Soshanguve, City of Tshwane, this week, while memorandums are ignored and petitions dismissed.

“When citizen science exposes polluted rivers and unsafe supply, our methods are first dismissed and then quietly accepted once the evidence is undeniable. The public has been forced to fight just for acknowledgement before we can even begin to fight for solutions,” she said.

WaterCAN cautioned that the proposed National Water Crisis Committee, which Ramaphosa is expected to chair, must not become “another talk shop”.

“It must have clear action plans, firm deadlines and civil society participation to ensure transparency and credibility,” the group said.

In his State of The Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday night, Ramaphosa acknowledged that water shortages have fuelled protests in parts of Gauteng.

“We have all seen the pain that our people have been expressing through demonstrations in various parts of Gauteng. These protests have been fuelled by frustrations over inadequate and unreliable access to basic services such as water,” he said.

Ramaphosa blamed poor planning and inadequate maintenance of water systems by many municipalities as the main causes of taps running dry.

“There is no silver bullet to address this challenge, which has its roots in systemic failures and many years of neglecting infrastructure,” he said.

He announced that the government would elevate its response by establishing a National Water Crisis Committee, which he will chair, to coordinate interventions and deploy technical experts to struggling municipalities.

Adam said the government must also urgently confront the entrenched water tanker economy, widely perceived as a gateway for corruption.

“The water mafias are a direct threat to water security. It is in their interest that infrastructure remains broken. The president must order an immediate national audit of all water tanker contracts, including beneficial ownership, pricing, delivery verification and any illicit financial flows between tanker networks, officials and politicians,” she said.

WaterCAN also expressed concern that the short-term intervention announced for the City of Johannesburg would not be sufficient to address the scale of collapse in the city’s water system.

“While the president’s acknowledgement that local government failure is a key driver of water insecurity is welcome, systemic reform is required.”

“Simply reallocating funding or tweaking policy frameworks, without addressing entrenched governance and political failures, will not fix the crisis,” Adam said.

Parts of Johannesburg have been without water for days. 

Townships and informal settlements have been affected, while small businesses have been forced to dig deep into already strained finances to keep operating.

“Crucially, the address offered no immediate relief for the thousands, if not millions, of South Africans who still do not have reliable access to safe water and dignified sanitation,” Adam said.

“For communities already going days, weeks and, in some cases, years without consistent supply, long-term reforms and future committees provide little comfort. Immediate emergency measures, with clear delivery plans, are urgently needed to protect public health and restore basic dignity.”

WaterCAN said it has noted what it described as a troubling “copy-and-paste” pattern across the 2024, 2025 and 2026 State of the Nation Addresses, with major water commitments repeated with minor wording changes but without clear delivery milestones.

This includes delays in establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency, finalising the Water Services Amendment Bill, and progress on bulk infrastructure projects such as the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which is already years behind schedule.

“We want to see criminal cases against municipalities finalised. We welcome talk of personal liability for accounting officers and municipal managers where failures are clear, but we must be honest: the laws and enforcement mechanisms already exist. New policy will mean nothing if consequence management remains optional,” Adam said.

She stressed that the most concerning weakness in Ramaphosa’s approach is the absence of time-bound commitments that the public can track.

“The government has repeatedly stated that water-related funding should be ring-fenced, yet there has still been no firm commitment to make this a reality,” the group said.

“Failure to provide hard deadlines is not a minor omission - it removes the very basis for accountability. If the government is serious about water security, it must publish timelines, interim milestones and transparent progress reports so communities can see what is being delivered, where and by when. Ultimately, it is up to President Ramaphosa to set that tone,” Adam said.

Ramaphosa said water shortages have become one of the country’s most urgent issues, alongside crime, affecting cities, towns and rural communities alike.

He said water challenges affect large cities such as Johannesburg, smaller towns including Knysna and rural areas such as Giyani.

He said he has directed the minister of water and sanitation Pemmy Majodina, her deputy and the minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa to engage directly with communities to explain government plans to address shortages.

According to Ramaphosa, damaged pipes are being repaired and reservoirs are filling, but the root causes remain years of poor planning, inadequate maintenance and systemic municipal failures.

The government has committed more than R156bn in public funding for water and sanitation infrastructure over the next three years, including projects such as the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and the Ntabelanga Dam, part of the Mzimvubu Water Project in the Eastern Cape.

Ramaphosa said the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency is in its final stages of establishment to manage the country’s water systems more effectively and mobilise funding.

“To address the challenges effectively, we will not hesitate to use the powers enshrined in the constitution and in the Water Services Act to intervene in municipalities where necessary. We will hold to account those who neglect their responsibility to supply water to our people,” he said.

“The government has already laid criminal charges against 56 municipalities that have failed to meet their obligations. We will now move to lay charges against municipal managers in their personal capacity for violating the National Water Act.”

He said the real challenge is not water availability but ensuring water reaches people’s taps.

The Water Services Amendment Bill will hold water service providers accountable and allow the withdrawal of licences from those who fail to deliver, he said.

“If a municipality is not willing or able to provide a service to its residents, it must be done by another structure that can.”

To tackle the immediate crisis, Ramaphosa announced the formation of the National Water Crisis Committee to coordinate national efforts, deploy technical experts and direct resources to municipalities facing water challenges.

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