South Africa: Pipeline to Disaster –

The Municipal Systems Act of 2000 was followed by the commodification of essential services. Together with mismanagement and a lack of investment in infrastructure, it has led us to where we are.

I spent six years studying water and sanitation in Johannesburg for my master’s degree and PhD. Joburg had arguably the best-quality municipal water in South Africa at one stage, and enough of it to meet demand. How did it all go so horribly wrong?

The water supply and infrastructural crisis began when the then ruling ANC shut down municipal departments in Joburg in 2000 and in their place formed corporatised, arms-length utilities such as Johannesburg Water, City Power and Pikitup.

Under apartheid, the Joburg municipality’s supply of water was the most efficient and effective on the entire African continent. But obviously, the biggest problem was the glaring inequalities in socioeconomic conditions between whites and blacks and the systemic, causal white racism which underlined it, such as in health, housing, educational provision and so much more.

However, until the municipal legislative changes in 2000, services such as water, sanitation, sewerage and electricity provision were directly provided by the municipality, though with vastly different standards for white and black households….

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