Uncovering the shadow agendas behind South Africa's water infrastructure failures
IOL | 23.02.2026 00:28
South Africa’s water crisis is increasingly narrated through a sequence of alarming numbers. The Department of Water and Sanitation’s 2023 Blue Drop reporting shows that 46 % of water supply systems had poor or bad microbiological compliance, a sharp regression from 5 % in 2014. The R400 billion municipal repair backlog is cited as the scale of rehabilitation required across the 105 worst-performing municipalities, excluding metros and bulk systems. In Gauteng, residents have repeatedly been warned that disruption does not end when maintenance ends, because stabilising reservoir-fed networks can stretch into days before pressure normalises.
