{"id":870065,"date":"2026-08-13T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=870065"},"modified":"2026-08-13T09:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T07:57:12","slug":"call-for-a-national-disaster-to-be-declared-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/870065\/call-for-a-national-disaster-to-be-declared-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa facing another National Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) called for a National Disaster to be declared over the country\u2019s worsening water crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAHRC Commissioner Dr Henk Boshoff said the scale and severity of the crisis required a broader and more coordinated government response under the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking during an SAHRC webinar on Wednesday, 13 August, Boshoff said a national state of disaster would help the government mobilise emergency funding, improve cooperation between different spheres of government and speed up procurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGiven the scale, scope and magnitude of the water crisis, the commission is calling for the water crisis to be declared a national disaster,\u201d he said. Water-related complaints remain among the top five categories received by the SAHRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission noted that several investigations and provincial visits have revealed a clear inability of municipalities and other water services authorities to provide reliable services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include ageing infrastructure, inadequate funding, shortages of technical skills and capacity, high levels of debt owed to water boards, the discharge of untreated effluent into water resources and significant water losses<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission has also raised concerns about the sabotage and theft of water infrastructure, the emergence of so-called water mafias and corruption associated with water tankering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boshoff acknowledged the recent release of the National Water Action Plan by the Presidency-led National Water Crisis Committee, known as Watercom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe agree that the symptoms have been identified. We agree that there is a proper diagnosis of the problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he questioned whether the plan would be sufficient to address the scale of the challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SAHRC believes a national disaster declaration could help the government prioritise budgets, improve intergovernmental cooperation and allow emergency procurement where necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGovernment simply does not have sufficient funds at this stage to address the water crisis, and it will be a process that will be unfolding over quite a few years,\u201d Boshoff said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concerns over drinking water and wastewater<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
SAHRC Commissioner Dr Henk Boshoff<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The commission has also pointed<\/a> to deterioration in the country\u2019s wastewater and drinking-water systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the SAHRC, the 2025 Green Drop Report showed that the number of wastewater systems achieving Green Drop certification fell from 22 in 2022 to 14 in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proportion of wastewater systems rated excellent or good also declined from 14% to 8%, while those classified as being in a critical state increased from 39% to 47%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means almost half of the country\u2019s wastewater systems were considered at risk of discharging partially treated or untreated wastewater into rivers and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SAHRC also highlighted findings from the 2025 Blue Drop assessment. It said 10.5% of assessed water supply systems were classified as high risk and 7.9% as critical risk, while 49% received a high-risk rating for microbiological water quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission said this poses a potential health risk to households and communities dependent on those systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the 2025 No Drop assessment showed national non-revenue water remained at 47.3%, only slightly below the 47.4% recorded in 2023 and well above the international average of about 30%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SAHRC said municipalities often cite insufficient funding as a reason for poor service delivery, while significant amounts of potential revenue are simultaneously being lost through water leaks and other forms of non-revenue water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe continued downward trajectory of wastewater systems is nothing but a disaster,\u201d the commission said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It warned that deteriorating wastewater infrastructure and poor water quality threaten public health and increase the risk of water-borne diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SAHRC has therefore recommended that the failure of wastewater systems be considered a national disaster and has reiterated its position that the wider water crisis engulfing South Africa should receive the same classification.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) called for a National Disaster to be declared over the country\u2019s worsening water crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":818122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2087811657728668045","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2174778876675845","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17941746402272295","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[24335,853,24152,10755],"class_list":["post-870065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-national-disaster","tag-south-africa","tag-south-african-human-rights-commission-sahrc","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870065"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870105,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870065\/revisions\/870105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}