While South Africa is presenting radical economic transformation initiatives, the water sector plainly shows that a lot of this is merely a smoke-screen hiding wholesale corruption; the consequences of which will be dire.

Expansion of the biggest and most important water supply scheme in the country, the Vaal River System, is more than five years overdue. The number of people who do not get a reliable supply of water from their taps anymore grew by around 2 million between 2011 and 2015. While a lack of access to clean drinking water is more prominent in rural areas, even urban areas are now suffering from a lack of water. In Mangaung, one of South Africa’s larger metropoles, 70% of individuals questioned reported water cuts lasting more than two days in 2015, mainly due to bad management.

The delay of the Vaal system, which could have disastrous consequences on the country’s economy as well as on lives and livelihoods of around 35% of the population is mainly due to the fact that South Africa’s minister of water affairs and sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane, has spent two years changing the rules and governance of the project – every year’s delay costs at least R500 million.

Mokonyane fired Dr Zodwa Dlamini, South Africa’s chief delegate in charge of a daily project oversight in Lesotho in order to push her own agenda, replacing him with a lawyer with no engineering or water knowledge. She also cancelled a tender that had already been closed; reportedly after a meeting with officials of a company that was excluded due to a lack of the required expertise.

All of this is however, just the tip of the iceberg, with reports of huge contracts being awarded to political friends; the department being highlighted by the Auditor General as being one of the worst offenders for billions of rands of irregular expenditure; the minister and mayor of Mangaung in the Free State are pushing ahead with proposals to build a R2 billion pipeline to bring more water to the city from the Gariep Dam on the Orange River, which studies have shown is three times more expensive than other alternatives that could meet the city’s needs for the next 20 years, and the list just goes on…

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