A call to fix South Africa’s water crisis

Resident queue for water in Linmeyer, Johannesburg on 7 July 2021. Picture: Neil McCartney National Water Month falls this year during Human Rights Month and on the eve of International Women’s Day. The convergence is not a coincidence.

It is a reminder that water is a constitutional right, a developmental imperative and, increasingly, a gender justice issue. Section 27 of the constitution guarantees everyone the right to have access to sufficient water. Safe and reliable water and sanitation are therefore matters of dignity, equality and justice.

Without water, the rights to health, education and economic participation are severely compromised. Across Africa, the scale of the challenge remains stark. Only about 31% of people have access to safely managed sanitation services and just 28% have basic hand-washing facilities.

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More than 353 million people lack even basic drinking water. Rural communities are disproportionately affected. Only around 45% have clean water nearby, compared with 84% in urban areas.

These figures represent children missing school, families exposed to preventable disease and economies constrained by inadequate infrastructure. At the centre of this crisis are women and girls. Across the continent, they shoulder the responsibility of collecting water, managing household hygiene under conditions of scarcity and coping with the consequences of unsafe sanitation. The time spent walking kilometres to fetch water reduces educational attainment and economic opportunity, while increasing exposure to health and safety risks.

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