Many communities are living without inadequate water supplies mainly due to a historical lack of infrastructure and effective water reticulation systems. Civil society organisations have asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to prioritise the ongoing water and electricity crisis when he delivers his State of the Nation address on Thursday. Picture: Siyabulela Duda
MANYANE MANYANE
President Cyril Ramaphosa has been urged to prioritise electricity, water, and sanitation challenges in the country when he delivers the first State of the Nation address under the Government of National Unity (GNU) on Thursday.
Civil society organisations said water and electricity remain a need in every household in the country and they are expecting Ramaphosa to reveal initiatives to prioritise these basic essentials.
Civic movement Save South Africa said it was a human rights catastrophe that to date, many poor and marginalised citizens still find themselves in a position where water is not drinkable because of “Cadre deployment” in key sectors of the economy.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said the water crisis is escalating, threatening public health, food security, and basic human rights; while the ongoing electricity instability hampers economic growth and erodes investor confidence.
South Africa is heading towards water shortages with the country facing a growing water crisis due to factors such as changing rainfall patterns but more so, inadequate infrastructure development, as well as the lack of executed projects to meet the growing urban demand.
Many communities, including the Free State, Gauteng, KZN and Limpopo are living without adequate water supplies mainly due to a historical lack of infrastructure and effective water reticulation systems.
The latest Blue Drop Report, a comprehensive assessment of the state of South Africa’s water supply systems, indicated that failures at the municipal level were both widespread and material in terms of the municipalities’ inability to provide access to safe drinking water across the country.
While load shedding has been largely kept at bay in recent months, on Friday, Eskom initiated stage-3 load shedding from 5pm and through the weekend. This was after 10 months of keeping the lights on, which had raised hopes that the rolling power cuts had been consigned to history. The power cuts were suspended on Sunday.
Save South Africa’s communication director, Tebogo Mashilompane, said many businesses including large companies had either closed or were faced with closure due to electricity inconsistency.
Mashilompane said the lack of electricity in industries means less or no production and that results first in a reduction of staff, then the closure of the entity.
“Small businesses have also been affected deeply and harshly when it comes to load shedding. Small businesses with low income are unable to buy generators to sustain their businesses and this led to the closure of such small businesses which leads to unemployment.
“The household is also affected negatively because this means their fridges stop working and that affects them harshly, said Mashilompane, adding that the power inconsistency also increased crime.
He said both the electricity and water crisis contribute to the lack of economic growth. Mashilompane said Ramaphosa must put in uncompromised and deliberate measures to address load shedding and the country’s water crisis.
Outa’s Chief Executive Wayne Duvenage said he expects Ramaphosa to address critical challenges with clear, actionable commitments.
He said while acknowledging the ongoing crises in water and electricity, Outa believes that tackling corruption should be at the forefront of Ramaphosa’s agenda.
“Corruption has been acknowledged as a serious crisis that undermines service delivery, weakens governance and fuels inefficiencies across sectors, including water and energy.
“These issues cannot be effectively resolved without addressing the systemic corruption and the demise of local government, whereby the poor service delivery from key national government institutions and many municipalities gives rise to heightened suffering and anxiety for millions of citizens,” said Duvenage.
Meanwhile, Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane said Ramaphosa has made many commitments, promises and signals of intent since 2018, but he has fallen short of the vast majority.
Maimane said Ramaphosa spent years making grand promises, yet the country continues to face power cuts, economic stagnation and infrastructure delays.
Governance expert and political analyst Sandile Swana said there is a need for the GNU to justify its continued existence by confirming that they have done enough to fix the electricity problem. Swana added that he expects Ramaphosa to give an impression that he has done almost enough to fix the load shedding issue.
“But I think a lot of businesses and communities are satisfied that they cannot trust this government to provide them with consistent electricity every day, especially with this latest load shedding.”
He said load shedding had been replaced by load reduction, which has largely affected townships in the country.
“The net effect of load reduction is actually load shedding. They are also going to create an impression that there is some progress with the sewerage but when you read the papers you can see the City of Joburg is struggling with water leaks and water budgets are still out of control,” he said.
manyane.manyane@inl.co.za