Court Ruling Orders Urgent Intervention in Eastern Cape Water Crisis

For almost eight years, the residents of Nombanjana and Nxaxo villages in Centane have endured an unacceptable and deeply undignified reality of collecting water from rivers and sources shared with livestock, despite repeated promises of intervention from government. Elderly residents, families and children have been forced to live without one of the most basic constitutional rights guaranteed to every South African: access to sufficient water. 

The Court’s ruling is therefore not merely a legal victory, but an affirmation of the dignity and humanity of these communities who have suffered for far too long.

ActionSA particularly welcomes the Court’s finding that the Minister and the Premier have a constitutional obligation to intervene when municipalities fail to provide basic services, and that “not my problem” can never be an acceptable response from government while communities suffer.

We further welcome the Court’s instruction that a task team be established to develop and oversee a sustainable intervention in the affected villages. However, this intervention cannot become yet another bureaucratic exercise that produces meetings and reports while residents continue to queue for unsafe water. 

ActionSA therefore calls on the Minister of Water and Sanitation to urgently provide clarity on: 

• When the intervention task team will formally be established;
• Which entities and officials will form part of the intervention;
• What funding has been allocated for emergency and long-term water provision;
• What timelines have been set for implementation;
• What measurable parameters and key performance indicators (KPIs) will govern the intervention; and
• How communities themselves will be consulted and updated throughout the process.

This ruling also demonstrates precisely why ActionSA last week supported the Water and Sanitation Budget Vote in Parliament. While we remain critical of government failures in water governance across the country, budgets must ultimately enable meaningful interventions such as this one to be properly funded and implemented where communities have been abandoned for years.

The people of Nombanjana and Nxaxo villages do not need more promises. They need taps that work, reliable infrastructure, and a government that cares.

ActionSA will continue to closely monitor this intervention and the reporting obligations imposed by the Court to ensure that the people of these villages do not go without water any longer.