Rapula Moatshe|Published
The water crisis in Bronkhorstspruit was highlighted at the launch of the Water Rights Tracker (WRT) at the Wits University School of Law on Wednesday as a stark example of the violation of the human right to water.
The tracker is a tool for assessing progress on the right to water by profiling all 144 Water Services Authorities across the country.
The launch followed reports earlier this week that at least 408 people, mostly children under four, were treated for gastrointestinal illnesses after drinking tap water from Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Works (BWTW), which had operated without chlorination.
The City of Tshwane has since advised residents not to drink tap water supplied from the BWTW and to use it only to flush toilets, a move experts have labelled a breach of the right to physical access to water.
While infections were reportedly declining, Tshwane Mayor Nasiphi Moya said anyone experiencing symptoms such as stomach cramps and diarrhoea should present themselves to the nearest clinic.
She said the city has since resumed chlorination at the treatment works. On Monday, Moya said water and sanitation officials responsible for the plant would be taken to task for failing to escalate to the executive that they were facing challenges with a supplier who had suddenly quadrupled prices.
“So, for chlorine in Gauteng, there are two suppliers (and) so we have one of the two, which is why I mean they can just abruptly want to renegotiate the terms of the contract because they understand the desperation,” she said during her visit to Bronkhorstspruit on Tuesday.
Speaking at the WRT launch, Professor Tracy-Lynn Field, the Claude Leon Chair for Earth Justice and Stewardship, said the water suspension followed cases of gastrointestinal illness, indicating microbiological non-compliance and an impact on the quality element of the human right to water.
She noted headlines that emerged since the outbreak, including calls for officials responsible for the water treatment works to face criminal charges.
Another headline, she said, captured political mudslinging, with suggestions that the crisis was being used to justify deploying water tankers.
The EFF in Gauteng, which holds two portfolios in Tshwane's mayoral committee, has called for Moya to step down.
Field questioned whether the current framing of the debate would help resolve the country's systemic water services challenges.
She used Tshwane as a case study because of the ongoing Bronkhorstspruit water treatment works saga, one of the city's 11 treatment works.
She said the situation was unusual for Gauteng, where most municipalities are supplied in bulk by Rand Water.
In the last 2023 Blue Drop assessment, BWTW scored 43%, which was also unusual for Tshwane's water treatment works; however, this did not trigger regulatory action by the Department of Water and Sanitation, according to Field.
“The Department of Water and Sanitation only steps in when you score 51% or lower. So, since 2023 we've known that this water treatment work is problematic. Since 2011, the average Blue Drop rating for the City of Tshwane has been steadily decreasing from about 90% to 83% in the last assessment, although on average it is still higher than many water service authorities across our country,” she said.
She said all South African water service authorities are required to comply with the national drinking water standard, SANS 241.
Field said water service authorities are required to conduct regular checks, including monitoring for E. coli and other harmful bacteria, and for populations over 100 000 must maintain a 98% microbiological compliance rate, with anything below that considered unacceptable.
Dr Henk Boshoff, commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission, weighed in on the Bronkhorstspruit water crisis, saying the recent incident in the area “underscores the fact that failure to deliver quality water is not just another administrative mishap; it has real-life consequences”.
“The water crisis is impacting lives and livelihoods, and we cannot bury our heads in the sand, but we must tackle the water crisis head-on,” he said.
Boshoff said the WRT was conceived in June 2023, when a formal partnership between the South African Human Rights Commission and Wits University was concluded.
He said the commission, as a Chapter 9 institution, has a constitutional mandate to monitor the realisation of human rights, including the right to water, across the country, while Wits, as an academic institution, has the capacity to undertake complex research.
“Therefore, it was only fitting for the South African Human Rights Commission, which has a broad mandate to partner with Wits, an institution wielding extensive research capacity in an endeavor to assist water services authorities to meaningfully fulfill their constitutional and statutory obligations.”
He said the WRT is important because it fosters accountability by enabling citizens, civil society, and oversight institutions to hold water services authorities accountable for the right to water using credible data.
“Secondly, it enables introspection. Through the WRT, water services authorities will be able to introspect and take stock of how they are progressing in fulfilling the water right,” Boshoff said.
Thirdly, he said, the instrument enables gap analysis and evidence-based solutions.
“Through the WRT systemic barriers inhibiting effective water provision are identified, enabling the deployment of evidence-based solutions to tackle the water crisis. And finally, the Water Rights Tracker is an important advocacy tool. The WRT will assist citizens and communities to foster improved water governance and management in the water sector.”
rapula.moatshe@nationalmg.co.za