Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodia. Picture: Knysna municipality/ Facebook Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has pledged R20 million in emergency relief funding to address Knysna’s escalating water crisis. The pledge followed a two-day working visit to the Garden Route town, where officials assessed the severity of the situation and developed urgent intervention measures.
The municipality’s Akkerkloof Dam, the primary storage facility serving greater Knysna, currently holds approximately 18% of its capacity. This translates to “an estimated 15 days of usable water at present consumption levels”, according to the municipality. The crisis stems from severe localised drought affecting the Western Cape’s Garden Route belt, compounded by what officials describe as long-term infrastructure neglect, high non-revenue water losses and ongoing vandalism.
While the current low dam levels have made the crisis apparent, the situation has been developing since 2023. Technical teams from the Department of Water and Sanitation and municipality conducted assessments revealing that sufficient water resources exist to meet Knysna’s needs. However, the teams found that decades of poor infrastructure management have created the current emergency.
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“For decades the municipality has not implemented sound water infrastructure asset management and has neglected the maintenance and upgrading of its water and sanitation infrastructure,” a joint statement released on Sunday reads. Majodina supported the municipality’s decision to classify Knysna as a disaster area.
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