Nearly half of South Africa's water infrastructure systems are failing, according to a new government report. The findings raise the prospect of a policy change by President Cyril Ramaphosa aimed at tackling a crisis that looks like the early stages of the country's national power grid collapse.
A national assessment by the Department of Water and Sanitation showed that 47% of municipal water systems are now in critical condition, up from 39% just three years ago. Additionally, the share of systems rated good or excellent has almost halved to just 8%.
scale of decline have instigated protests, spoiled the atmosphere in the boardroomand destroyed the electoral popularity of the dominant African National Congress. The problems have been compared to the crisis at state power utility Eskom, where years of delayed maintenance and weak governance ongoing power cuts Which crippled Africa's most industrialized economy. Ramaphosa has responded to the water crisis by founding and chairing the National Water Crisis CommitteeExtending power and logistics as well as water to presidential authority.
A chart showing the quality of South Africa's wastewater systems by province.