Ramaphosa gives false hope about water crisis

Afriforum said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of a new National Water Crisis Committee to help address the water crisis is meaningless.

This followed Ramaphosa’s comments about addressing South Africa’s water crisis during his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, 12 February 2026.

Many cities and towns across South Africa face severe water problems, leaving households without water for weeks or even months.

This has led to protests in areas like Johannesburg, where residents are tired of politicians’ empty promises.

In his address, President Ramaphosa identified water as the single most important issue currently facing many South Africans.

“We have all seen the pain that our people have been expressing through demonstrations in various parts of Gauteng,” he said.

“These protests have been fueled by frustrations over inadequate and unreliable access to basic services such as water.”

He acknowledged that the crisis is rooted in systemic failures, poor planning, and years of neglected municipal infrastructure.

To address the water problems, Ramaphosa will establish a National Water Crisis Committee, which he will chair.

This new national committee will coordinate efforts, deploy technical experts, and ensure swift action.

The Water Services Amendment Bill will be introduced to hold service providers accountable and withdraw licenses from those who fail to deliver.

He added that the government has already laid criminal charges against 56 municipalities for failing to meet their obligations.

He said they intend to prosecute municipal managers in their personal capacity for violating the National Water Act.

The government has budgeted billions for water and sanitation infrastructure and to fix pipes, reservoirs, and pumping stations.

The government is also in the final stages of establishing a National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency to manage the country’s water assets.

Afriforum says Ramaphosa gives South Africans false hope

Civil action group Afriforum said Ramaphosa’s announcement of a new National Water Crisis Committee to help address the water crisis is meaningless.

It highlighted that two previous task forces had been established over the past few years to address the same crisis. They failed miserably.

AfriForum argued that this committee will not achieve much more success if politicians and municipal officials are not urgently held accountable for their failures.

One task force was established in February 2024 to investigate service delivery in terms of water and sanitation.

Another task force was established in April 2025 by Deputy President Paul Mashatile and ministers from various departments to address water challenges.

Despite these two task teams, South Africa’s water crisis deteriorated, leaving millions of households without water.

“To date, it is unclear what these two task forces have achieved,” said Marais de Vaal, AfriForum’s Advisor for Environmental Affairs.

“This leaves much to be desired as to what the president’s latest crisis committee will be able to accomplish, other than dishing out more empty promises.”

He added that recent public statements by politicians, water authorities, and government departments are misleading.

In these statements, they blame Gauteng’s current water crisis primarily on residents. This, he said, is not supported by the Department of Water and Sanitation’s data.

“Gauteng’s water crisis specifically is largely driven by municipal water losses and poor infrastructure maintenance,” said De Vaal.

“Against this backdrop, shifting the blame to an increase in domestic demand is misleading and ignores the real cause of the crisis.”

AfriForum called on the president to put his words into action and expedite the criminal cases against 56 municipalities that fail to reliably provide water to citizens.

“For years, AfriForum has been demanding that guilty municipal managers be prosecuted in their personal capacity and removed from office,” he said.

“The water crisis will not be solved through promises of change, but through decisive action that actively counteracts the deterioration of water infrastructure.”