President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched the National Water Action Plan, a government strategy aimed at tackling South Africa's worsening water crisis by addressing failing municipal infrastructure, reducing leaks, attracting investment, and cracking down on corruption in the water sector.
As more than 2,000 water experts, engineers, policymakers, and municipal leaders gather in Cape Town this week for Southern Africa's largest water conference, President Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled an ambitious National Water Action Plan aimed at overhauling the country's failing water systems, tackling corruption, and ending chronic water outages.
The plan, released on Thursday following a meeting of the National Water Crisis Committee (WATERCOM), comes as delegates at the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) 2026 Biennial Conference and Exhibition discuss practical solutions to South Africa's ageing infrastructure, deteriorating municipal water services, and growing climate-related water security challenges under the theme "Rethink Amanzi – Securing Our Future".
The government said the National Water Action Plan sets out a coordinated programme of short-, medium-, and long-term interventions designed to ensure a reliable supply of quality water while addressing the structural failures that have left many communities facing recurring water outages.
