The commercial heart of South Africa, the city of Johannesburg and the surrounding area, is running out of water. Water rationing and simple outages have become very onerous: Taps have run dry across South Africa’s largest city in an unprecedented water crisis, by Mogomotsi Magome, AP, March 21, 2024.
This story is well illustrated and full of human suffering anecdotes, but is almost exclusively focused on the black areas.
Taps have run dry across South Africa's largest city in an unprecedented water crisis https://t.co/3ROEKRiU29
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 21, 2024
However, it does say all the other areas are suffering too. Drought is not explicitly blamed, and a root cause is not identified. But some indicative facts are mentioned.
Outraged activists … blame officials’ poor management and the failure to maintain aging water infrastructure. Much of it dates to the years just after the end of apartheid, when basic services were expanded to the country’s Black population in an era of optimism.
A report published last year by the national department of water and … found that 40% of Johannesburg’s water is wasted through leaks, which includes burst pipes.
A more analytical account Johannesburg’s water crisis is getting worse—expert explains why the taps keep running dry in South Africa’s biggest city [The Conservation, February 27, 2024] explains:
…the next phase of the Lesotho Highlands Scheme is eight years behind schedule … Work on the dam design started in 2017 and tender design was completed during 2020. Construction is expected to be completed with commissioning expected in 2028.
Johannesburg’s water crisis is getting worse – expert explains why the taps keep running dry in South Africa’s biggest city https://t.co/m0l3lRfzdl
— The Conversation Africa (@TC_Africa) February 27, 2024
💻 Craig Sheridan, @WitsUniversity#BusinessAndEconomy #JoburgWater #Infrastructure pic.twitter.com/tjDgJGpNA4
The link on “eight years behind schedule” is to Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP II) now Eight Years Delayed [GreenbuildingAfrica, December 5, 2019], which significantly reports:
Disastrous corruption in LHWP (the then CEO of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority which runs the Lesotho end … spent 9 years in jail)
The Conversation continues:
When the city responds to requests by residents for repairs, the response, if it comes, is often too little and the job is poorly done. There is little oversight or accountability by the city to ensure the contractors have done the job correctly and the repairs often do not last long.
Johannesburg was founded in 1886 after the discovery of huge gold mines in its vicinity. It has always been in a parched area. Under white rule (ended 1994) several phases of explosive economic growth were accommodated with no problems like this. What has changed is the quality of the rulers.
Put simply, South Africa’s infrastructure is falling apart, as much from the dishonesty as the incompetence of the rulers.
In South Africa Today—America Tomorrow? And Why? I discussed a long and detailed essay by a South African émigré, pointing out that the national airline has collapsed, as has the Post Office, while the railways and the national electricity supplier Eskom are teetering.
I laid out the Eskom problem in more detail in U.S. Giving $8 Billion To South Africa For Green Power—How Much For The Big Guy?
(That was in 2022. I wonder if the U.S. Treasury knows where the money is now, LOL.)
There is a fine book on the looting of Eskom by a recent Chief Executive: Truth To Power: My Three Years Inside Eskom, by André De Ruyter. I hope to publish a review essay on this.
Much of this highly intelligent book is very funny, if you live 8,000 miles away.
Unfortunately, in effect Johannesburg is effectively here: see Paul Kersey’s The Great Replacement in Birmingham: from 61% White in 1910 to 23% White in 2020: NOW WITH INTERACTIVE CHARTS and “Learn, Whitey, Learn!”—Paul Kersey’s ESCAPE FROM DETROIT.
