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The State of Our Water: Promises, Promises, Promises

Statement by Stephen Moore MP – DA Spokesperson on Water and Sanitation:

At his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 12 February 2026, the President promised that he would heed the desperate cries of South Africans across our country living without water by elevating Government’s response to a Crisis Committee he would chair. This Committee would be urgently tasked with developing an Action Plan and finally ending dry taps.

Days later, on the 17th, during the SONA Debate, the Minister in the Presidency announced that the Action Plan would be ready by mid-March 2026; yet soon after, during an oral question session, the goalpost moved to the end of March.

To establish what was going on, as South Africans suffered, I submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request on 25 March 2026 for copies of: meeting minutes of the Crisis Committee, resolutions adopted and, importantly, the National Water Crisis Action Plan.

The Presidency then, on 04 May 2026, requested a one-month extension without justified reasoning, as is required in the Act, which I agreed to. This, despite the President on 30 April 2026 having convened a Coordinating Council meeting where the Plan was discussed.

The extension expired on 04 June 2026, with no word from the Presidency, while the President, in the Budget Vote Debate on 02 June 2026, spoke on interventions already being undertaken through the Plan.

Following an additional referral to the Executive Undertakings and Petitions Portfolio Committee on 05 June 2026 and a demand to the Minister of Water and Sanitation on 10 June 2026 that she table the Plan, the Presidency finally responded on 11 June.

Having studied the information, I can reveal: there is no complete National Water Crisis Action to end dry taps for South Africans. See attached.

Communities without water across our country should be deeply appalled after being strung along with promises for months. The Presidency has not kept its word, and South Africans must contend with another false promise, yet still be expected to trust that the water crisis is being dealt with.

The DA will communicate next steps in our fight to end dry taps in due course.

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