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How can we ensure that every African has access to potable water?

22 April 2025 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied

Dr Tafadzwa Maramura — Dr Tafadzwa Clementine Maramura is a Senior Lecturer and NRF-Rated Researcher in the Department of Public Administration and Management at the UFS.

With roughly half the world’s population experiencing severe water scarcity for at least part of the year, according to the UN World Water Development Report 2024, a researcher from the University of the Free State (UFS) seeks to understand how South Africa and the rest of the African continent can ensure that every person has access to water.

Besides Dr Tafadzwa Clementine Maramura, Senior Lecturer and NRF-Rated Researcher in the Department of Public Administration and Management at the UFS, research focusing on service delivery, especially delivery of water to the most vulnerable and poorest households, her work also focuses on the water-health nexus. In February she was appointed the Secretary for the Institutional Governance and Regulations Framework – a sub-specialist group for the International Water Association (IWA), becoming the first black African female to be appointed to this position.

According to statistics quoted by Greenpeace, 5.52 billion people out of a population of 7.78 billion in 186 countries face water insecurity, of which, 1.34 billion are Africans, accounting for more than 90% of the continent’s population. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2024: water for prosperity and peace; facts, figures, and action examples state that as of 2022, 2.2 billion people were without access to safely managed drinking water.

Research focus

With this, and with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – especially Goal 6 (clean water and sanitation) – in mind, Dr Maramura seeks to understand how South Africa and the rest of Africa can ensure that everyone gets access to this particular resource. “My research focuses on water governance and sustainable service delivery, public policies, and the green economy in the African, as well as the South African, context. What I found is interesting and really saddening at the same time. When you break it down, you realise that one in every three people in Africa don’t have access to potable water.

“Water is a basic human right, you can survive without electricity and other luxuries, but not without water. Each time you brush your teeth or flush your toilet with at least 15 litres of clean water or you are watering your garden with clean water, there are people that actually don’t have access to basic drinking water,” says Dr Maramura.

She is also investigating what the government is doing to ensure it delivers on this service it is mandated to, as South Africa has all the policies in place, and the best constitution in the world, but still the poor and most vulnerable communities do not have water.

“Access to clean water is not just a basic need; it is a matter of dignity, equality, and survival. As a young African woman, through my research, I see first-hand how the burden of water scarcity falls disproportionately on women and girls, robbing us as women, of education, economic opportunities, and health.

“But we are not just victims – we are leaders in this fight. By empowering women and investing in sustainable water solutions, we can transform our communities and break the cycle of poverty. The time for action is now because water is life, and every African deserves it.”

The water-health nexus

Dr Maramura has book chapters coming out in June this year that focus on the water-health nexus in failed states, thereby merging SDG 3 and 6 on health and water respectively. Water plays an indispensable role in the world as it is important for accomplishing several other SDGs, such as zero hunger, poverty eradication, good health and well-being, and affordable and clean energy. It all depends on the achievement of goal 6.

Says Dr Maramura: “You cannot solve problems in isolation; you cannot look at the water problem in isolation. If you have a water problem, you have a health and education problem because kids can’t go to school if there is no water. Hospitals can’t function when there is no water.

“SDG 3 speaks to health and SDG 6 speaks to water and that is where the nexus is, nexus meaning connection between water and health. How can we ensure that we merge the two together and ensure researchers working on health and water can find common ground to address any challenges arising from the lack of water so that we don’t have these health issues?”

South Africa is an upper-middle-income country but still struggles to deliver potable water to everyone and many communities in the country still rely on ventilated pit latrines due to limited access to modern sanitation facilities. With the deadline for achieving the 17 SDGs only five years away, South Africa is at risk of failing to achieve the SDGs.

Solving the water problems

According to Dr Maramura, there is no magic wand that can be used to solve all the country's water problems, but a collaborative and comprehensive effort is needed. “There is work that needs to be done. The government, private sector, the communities, as well as other role players need to work together. South Africa is a water-stressed country with rainfall below the global average. We realised that we have scarce groundwater resources.

“The community needs to understand, participate, and be aware of how much damage we can do by just drilling boreholes and digging wells. The private sector needs to know what it is that they can do to ensure that they also play a part through their corporate social responsibility and philanthropic dimensions in assisting the community.”

From the government side, she says, the policies are there so the government needs to consult with the communities, the private sector, and all other relevant stakeholders. They need to involve affected communities and after consultations, they need to engage these communities because they understand their problem best.

News Archive

Professor launches his book, opposition parties attend

2011-03-22

Prof. Hussein Solomon
Photo: Stephen Collett

“We are good in opposing people, but we’re less good in opposing ideas.” This was how Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State (UFS) introduced the book launch of Against all Odds: Opposition Politics in Southern Africa.

The event was hosted in collaboration with the publisher under the title: Are opposition parties in South Africa in a crisis? This formed part of a series of dialogue sessions, organised by the Centre for Africa Studies, in the run up to the local elections.

Amongst those interested who attended the evening in the Senate Hall of the CR Swart Building on the Main Campus were various politicians, students, staff en a panel consisting of academics and the respective provincial representatives of the ANC and DA.

Dr Mcebisi Ndletyana from the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), acted as arbiter.

Proff. Hussein Solomon, author of Against all Odds: Opposition Politics in Southern Africa, also lecturer at the UFS, as well as Dirk Kotzé, Head of the Department of Political Science at Unisa, delivered enriching lectures on the stance and positioning of opposition parties.

Prof. Hussein, who spoke first, circumscribed the context of the political climate in the country, based on his book. “The problem that political science encounters is that everybody becomes experts on the internet, while they have no experience of what is happening in South Africa.” He said that when political parties in the country are under discussion, voters often allow myths and/or stereotyping to influence their concept of it. ‘’If there are no opposition parties, there is no democracy and people are deprived of their vote.”

Prof. Kotzé stated in his speech that it was not only opposition parties who had to make the government watch its step, but also the status that the country acquired, amongst others, from its connections, i.e. collaborative agreements such as BRICSA and the country’s inclusion in the G20. He left the audience with a question about how they were going to become involved in politics, and with his rhetoric question referred to options like social networks and movements.

Mr Sibongile Besani, the ANC'S secretary in the Free State, said the DA grew due to it’s swallowing of other parties; something he claims is taking the country backwards. He also described the use of personalities by opposition parties as means of association a weakness. He added that voters will continue voting for the ANC because they can associate themselves with the party’s vision.

In contrast, Mr Roy Jankielsohn, provincial leader of the DA, said voters and parties unite under their core vision for the country as like in the case of the ANC during the liberation struggles.

During the question-and-answer session, which followed after Mr Jankielson’s speech, Prof. Kwandiwe Kondlo, upon completion and summary of the discussions, stated firmly that the opposition parties are in a crisis. “The start of the solution is to recognise the problem. That is why our democracy finds itself in the state in which it is; because the opposition does not fulfil the role that they are supposed to fulfil.“ Prof. Kondlo is the head of the Centre of Africa Studies at the UFS.

He concluded by stating that the economic basis in the country was not transformed. “We cannot say that people determine their futures if they posses nothing. Opposition parties must start to communicate at this level in order to table something new. Our democracy must become more inclusive at political and material level.”

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