South Africa’s water crisis is a painful reminder of how a water expert, Dr Anthony Turton, was suspended by his ex-employer, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), for giving a warning shot in 2008 about the looming water crisis.
It is usual that experts’ advice is being ignored, which has led the country to colossal catastrophes. Who will forget the recent energy loadshedding, which nearly collapsed the economy? People died unnecessarily due to HIV/AIDS denialism by senior leaders of the ANC, such as Thabo Mbeki and the late health minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who encouraged people to eat beetroot instead of taking medication. The ANC deliberately brought us to where we are – water crisis.
It makes perfect sense that the government, media, activists, citizens and commentators are now paying sufficient attention to the water issue, since it has affected the country’s economic hub, the City of Joburg. It harbours around 6.6 million people, a population almost double that of the North West Province. Available data shows that the City of Cape Town has surpassed Joburg as the top employer, which is the premier motivation for people to migrate to those two cities for employment and business opportunities.
It is myopic for the government to hold on to the water management resources and infrastructure that they inherited from the apartheid government, which were only meant for the minority white people. The logic-thinking persons would have begun with massively increasing the capacity, and would focus on regularly maintaining the existing infrastructure, which would ensure that the growing population was being catered for. Rather, the focus of politicians and tenderpreneurs has been to loot money in the name of solving water issues by providing unsustainable water tanks procured for comrades.
Although Israel is a very small semi-arid country with around 10 million people, it has been able to achieve water security and become a world leader in that aspect through infrastructure investment, innovative technology and skilled management. Water governance is technical, technocrat and market-driven, which ensures that the country’s water security is upheld. Today, their water development technology has been used in several countries around the world to tackle the water problem.
Singapore is one of the driest countries, but it managed to invest in research, development and innovation to tackle this problem, which enabled its economy to flourish. The world and human history teach us that water has been at the centre of the success of every economy in the world. In Africa, especially South Africa, which has used modern technology to maximise its farming fortunes, water has been central to that effect. South Africa became the only industrialised economy due to investment in water generation and distribution to help supply companies with the necessary resources to conduct their businesses.
One of the most notable challenges in South Africa’s water sector is that politicians have taken over our water facilities without the needed technical know-how. There is mismanagement, corruption and a shortage of skills, which are responsible for the collapse of the water resource management in Johannesburg and elsewhere in the country. There is over-allocation of resources by the government towards the Department of Water and Sanitation, as well as municipalities with the water competency/authority. It is important to highlight that the money might be allocated, but there is hardly any value for money as it is given to comrades, family members and friends who have been advised by the same politicians to register companies to be given those tenders, while people are suffering without clean water.
The solution to the water crisis in South Africa, which would appeal to other countries facing similar challenges, has multiple layers. It will not come from one stakeholder; It needs to come from all players, including households, farmers and industrialists, as well as the government. We need to instil the culture of saving water and the payment of essential services such as water and electricity. We need to identify and fix the leaks around the country which are responsible for water wastage, which amounts to a lot of money. We need to diversify our water sources, especially the desalination of our seawaters. We need to create a water national grid which will be managed, controlled and monitored from the national point of view, like electricity. However, local municipalities are incapacitated due to a lack of technical and tactical prowess and infrastructural decay.
*Kgwadi’s Master’s thesis investigated the economic effects of water shortages on the residents of Mokgola village, North West Province. He has written news articles and opinion pieces around the topic of water for several years.
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