SCORE: E With 105 of South Africa’s 144 municipal water service authorities classified as failing – representing nearly three-quarters of the country’s water governance structures – Majodina’s tenure faces critical scrutiny. Municipal debt to water boards has surged to R25 billion, threatening operational viability. Criminal networks — the “water mafia” — exploit illegal connections, extortion […]
The conditions of people who work and live in South Africa’s farms today have remained the same as under apartheid. Will the new amendments in legislation bring about change?
With Johannesburg said to be fast approaching ‘Day Zero’, the mayor was also questioned about missing funds
Political and administrative delays, treaty complications and changes in government leadership contributed to the jump
Department of water and sanitation urges those living within the floodline to move to safe areas
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has picked up on the introduction of racial quotas for black shareholding in water use licences, sparking fierce debate
The province is ‘not doing the right things’ to rescue itself from running out of water, Pemmy Majodina told parliament’s portfolio committee on water and sanitation
Contingencies are in place for the maintenance shutdown, the water and sanitation department says
This was achieved through a partnership involving the Vaal community, Rand Water, Rhodes University’s Centre for Biological Control, the water and sanitation department and the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment
New Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina says she will work with municipalities that are in debt, diversify water supply to include desalination and introduce measures to reduce water use levels
The six-month period required to conduct maintenance is crucial to ‘avoid any catastrophic event’
The situation is frightening, says an anonymous source who used to work at the department of water and sanitation
Experts like civil engineers say it is not too late to save South Africa’s waterways from high levels of pollution
About 80% of the country’s dams are so enriched with nutrients they could produce toxic algal blooms
If allowed to pass the Vaal River Barrage, the plant has access to a journey of about 1 000km of the middle and lower Vaal river, the Bloemhof Dam and then into the Orange river
The blame game will only take us so far down the river
Three people were killed and dozens injured a year ago when the tailings dam at the Jagersfontein diamond mine collapsed
Significant opportunities exist to extract maximum value from water by treating it as a scarce resource and using it more than once
The director general said high levels of support and intervention by the department are slowing the decline in water and sanitation services, not reversing it
The Federated Hospitality Association of South African has called for urgent national government Intervention
In April last year, the department’s Green Drop report identified 334 wastewater systems in a critical condition in 90 municipalities.
More than half of the sites showed a high health risk if water
was used for irrigation
Homes, roads and bridges destroyed as two more sluice gates opened
The directive orders the city to stop untreated waste from entering rivers
Criminal charges have been filed against the municipal managers of a number of towns for polluting the Vaal and Orange rivers
The Maluti-a-Phofung municipality’s failure to provide people with water results in locals having to pay thousands of rand for water to private suppliers
The Trafficking in Persons report says Cuba benefits financially from its ‘coercive’ labour export programmes to 66 countries
It will be a test case in South Africa for river pollution, rehabilitation and holding polluters accountable
Broken abstraction pumps at the Eastern basin treatment plant mean that water supply may become contaminated, posing a serious threat
The Green Drop 2022 report, the first since 2013, reflects a serious deterioration in the management of wastewater treatment plants
The acid mine drainage happened at Khwezela Colliery’s south shaft, which had been sealed, but the volume of water exceeded the maximum capacity for treatment at the dosing site
Ramaphosa said planned institutional reform will improve the enforcement of water standards at municipal level