“In scenes resembling a movie,” began journalist Siyabonga Sithole, clearly incredulous at the sight he described. The “scenes” described by Sithole were playing out in Phumulaqashi informal settlement, south of Johannesburg. And much as they resembled a movie, they might also have resembled South Africa’s future.
The picture is bleak: Stones and rubber bullets pierce a veil of teargas, as residents and police officers pelt one another. Cries ring out and, in the chaos, passing trucks are looted. The local ward councillor, one Puseletso Nzimande, is wide-eyed with fear. “My life is in danger, and they will burn my house. Why is Joburg Water doing this?” she protests. “I was not consulted or informed about this operation.” All around, projectiles continue to fly.
It’s not a pretty picture, to be sure. The cause of this chaos? Joburg Water officials had arrived, unexpectedly, to close illegal water connections.
Non-revenue water
With Gauteng’s water crisis near bursting point, illegal water connections are under scrutiny. Such connections are one form of Non-Revenue Water (NRW), water for which municipalities are unable to collect revenue. In addition to illegal connections, this includes water lost to leakages and burst pipes.
The Department of Water & Sanitation’s latest Blue Drop Report indicates that South Africa has about 1 988.50-million cubic metres NRW per year. To put this into context, the 2021/22 national system input value (SIV) (which is water that has been treated for municipal waste) was 4 282.5-million cubic metres a year. In other words, Non-Revenue Water is equivalent to nearly half the water being treated for use.
Clearly, such losses must be urgently addressed, but as the scenes in Phumulaqashi show, how we address them matters. Residents of Phumulaqashi point out that the settlement has no formal water supply infrastructure. Joburg Water has endeavoured to provide water tankers. But how tenable is such a solution in the longer term?
One thing is clear: no matter which solutions are implemented, instability is inevitable. With water restrictions being tightened, illegal connections being cut, and water throttling being introduced, Johannesburg will have to brace itself. Social and economic disruptions cannot be avoided.
To mitigate the extent of the crisis, Gauteng must adequately account for its genesis. Identifying illegal connections, for instance, may be necessary, but it shouldn’t be framed as the cause of the crisis. Rather, it is decades of neglecting infrastructure and a failure to plan for population growth that are the main culprits here.
Systemic shortfalls
As experts have pointed out, Johannesburg was never well-placed to support a growing population. Most of Johannesburg’s water comes from the Vaal Dam, some 130 km away. Water from the Vaal is sold to Rand Water by the Department of Water and Sanitation, which places a cap on how much of that water may then be sold to Johannesburg and Pretoria. This cap is determined in anticipation of future (and not just current) water needs. Consequently, current water needs are not adequately addressed by this supply.
To meet the shortfall, Gauteng requires the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. The project’s heavily delayed Phase 2 should be completed in 2028 (it was originally scheduled for completion in 2019). Upon completion, 1.27 billion cubic metres of water will be transferred from Lesotho to the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) (from which Rand Water draws its supply) every year.
Experts have cautioned, however, that merely pumping more water into the system won’t solve the issue of water losses. Rather, Gauteng must completely overhaul its infrastructure – and the municipalities which have failed to maintain it. In other words: just as the water crisis was decades in the making, its solution will be a long-term project, too.
National implications
In the meantime, South Africa’s economic heartland risks being brought to its knees. Benoit Le Roy, CEO of Water Ledger South Africa, has said that the collapse of Gauteng’s water infrastructure “is an existential threat to the very viability of our national economy.” He notes that “water is the foundation of your national economy. It is the foundation of social stability.” The production of electricity and the functioning of industry, for example, are dependent on water, and severe enough shortages will cripple both.
Water scientist Professor Anthony Turton points out that “three major metros contain a significant portion of our national manufacturing capacity. They are all at risk from water supply disruptions.” The reverberations will be felt throughout the whole country – not just in Gauteng. With or without a Day Zero, billions could be lost, along with jobs, investors, and confidence.
Then there is the human face of the crisis. Hospitals unable to clean wounds, children and the elderly succumbing to dehydration, and the possible risk of cholera due to residents recycling dirty water… This is the near future we could face.
South Africa’s choice
Back to the Phumulaqashi settlement. Cutting off illegal water connections is unavoidably necessary. But the faces of Phumulaqashi’s residents are not the face of the unfolding water crisis. Rather, it is corrupt and incompetent officials whose faces should be associated with the crisis. It is they who are to blame. Cadre deployment and nepotism have created an environment ripe for decay, in which expertise has been set aside for loyalty to political elites.
The “War on Leaks” campaign, launched in 2015, is emblematic. In April this year, President Ramaphosa launched an investigation into the project, which was intended to train 15,000 unemployed young people as water technicians. Instead, the project spent R600 million on unauthorised, irregular expenditure. And the leaks it was intended to battle? Well…
The story of Gauteng’s water crisis is an extension of South Africa’s broader tale. A tale in which – caught between the appeal of ideology and the desperate demands of the nation’s needs – South Africa must choose. Do we choose to privilege competence in our governance structures? Or do we, instead, follow ideology and corruption to an arid, aimless future?
[Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/drop-splash-impact-ripples-water-545377/]
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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