South Africa’s water crisis is more severe than our electricity crisis. We can live without electricity, but we cannot live – let alone grow – without water.
Over the last 30 years the government has built a good legal and policy framework around the right to water. The problem, as usual, is that the ANC government has not implemented its policies. It has:
•Tolerated poor water leadership and a lack of oversight;
•Failed to improve water governance;• Failed to ensure sufficient capacity at treatment facilities, and allowed existing facilities to fall into disrepair;
• Neglected key state functions such as the inspection, maintenance and development of water infrastructure;
• Failed to prosecute acts of corruption and misgovernance.
We are in a race against time. We must put into place a series of short term goals right now. If we do, we will reverse the water crisis within ten years.