Day-zero looming for popular South African holiday hotspot

Residents of the popular Knysna Local Municipality in the Garden Route of the Western Cape have been facing one service delivery crisis after the next, this time relating to water.

Executive Mayor of Knysna, Thando Matika, said that the municipality is staving off a day-zero water scenario in Knysna, with level 5 water restrictions looming.

Speaking on Cape Talk, Matika said that the current water situation is “very serious,” with the provincial government calling the scenario was preventable.

“We have prevented reaching day-zero as the council has declared the water crisis, which activated national, provincial and local government through the joint committee,” he said.

“The situation is very serious, but we are under active management. Our storage dams and river abstractions are under pressure because of inflows that remain low.”

“However, I want to reassure residents that the water is still flowing and we are not yet on day zero.”

The mayor promised that Knysna will not hit day-zero anytime soon.

However, Knysna Municipality announced on 4 January that if consumption is not significantly reduced in the immediate future, level 5 water restrictions will be considered. 

For context, in 2018, Cape Town reached stage 6B and declared that reaching stage 7 would have constituted a day-zero disaster scenario. 

The Knysna municipality said the water crisis has been caused by a prolonged period of low rainfall and increased seasonal demand.

However, Matika said that Knysna’s ageing infrastructure “is not assisting the municipality.”

The Democratic Alliance (DA) stated that the water crisis has been caused by the failures of the ANC-led government coalition. The party claimed that the mayor had previously admitted to 47% water losses.

Spokesperson for Western Cape Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, Wouter Kriel, said that the current crisis was preventable.

“The greater Knysna Town water supply system has been designed to allow the municipality to store water in the off-channel Akkerkloof Dam throughout the year by pumping water from the Knysna River,” he told Newsday.

The Akkerkloof Dam is used to supply water to the town when the river levels drop too low to abstract water.

While the provincial minister acknowledged that the river received below-average rainfall during the year, he said “there has, however, been sufficient river flow during the course of the year to fill the Akkerkloof Dam as per the design of the system.”

Technical challenges at the Charlsford Pump Station prevented the municipality from filling the dam.

Level 5 water restrictions looming

Aware of the water crisis during the peak tourism season, the DA-led Western Cape Provincial Government attempted to take over these critical service delivery functions under Section 139 (1)(b) of the Constitution. 

This would allow the provincial government to assume responsibility for a specific function of the municipality, in this case, the water, sewer and waste management services in Knysna. 

However, the intervention was blocked by Knysna’s current coalition government with the African National Congress (ANC), Patriotic Alliance (PA), Plaaslik Besorgde Inwoners (PBI) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who voted against it in December 2025. 

“The coalition chose to turn its back on the people of Greater Knysna at the very moment the town faces a day-zero scenario with no backup plans in place,” said DA Chief Whip and Spokesperson for Finance Sharon Sabbagh. 

On 22 December, the Knysna Municipality said it held a Joint Committee Operation Meeting with local and provincial government to address immediate water supply and sanitation challenges. 

Bredell said that at the moment, water supply is exceeding demand only by a “razor-thin margin.”

“The Knysna system can provide 19.7 megaliters of water per day, while the anticipated peak demand during the holiday season is 17 megalitres per day,” he said. 

This, combined with aging infrastructure and high water losses, means that Knysna remains dangerously close to day zero. 

However, the demand can still be met, according to the Minister, if all residents adhere to level 4 water restrictions and the municipality reduces its 47% non-revenue water figure.

Provincial government intervention blocked

The provincial government’s latest attempt to intervene in Knysna follows an attempt to dissolve the municipality under Section 139(c) of the Constitution.

In September, Bredell moved to dissolve the council and invoke Section 139(c) of the Constitution, citing severe governance failures and the urgent need to stabilise the municipality.

Residents and local business groups have long raised concerns about the municipality’s declining service delivery, citing raw sewage flowing into streets and waterways, inconsistent electricity supply, and slow responses to infrastructure failures.

The ANC in the province, who control the council through a coalition, claimed that this “had political motives.”

A report tabled by the NCOP  revealed that seven provinces voted in support of keeping the current council, while only two supported dissolution.

After blocking the dissolution, Parliament gave the administration of Knysna 14 days to provide a clear plan to address the water and sanitation challenges when it blocked the dissolution. 

At the end of the two-week period, the administration held a meeting with local, provincial and national stakeholders, where it said that “the truth is, Greater Knysna cannot navigate this challenge alone.”