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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

UFS boasts with most advanced chemical research apparatus in Africa
2005-11-23

Celebrating the inauguration of the NMR were from the left Prof Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS),  Dr Detlef Müller (Development Scientist and Manager:  Africa and Asia of Bruker in Germany, the supplier of the NMR), Prof Jannie Swarts (head of the head of the Division Physical Chemistry at the UFS) and Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean:  Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS). Photo: Lacea Loader

UFS boasts with most advanced chemical research apparatus in Africa 

The University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Chemistry now boasts with some of the most advanced chemical research apparatus in Africa after the latest addition, a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer, was inaugurated today by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Frederick Fourie.  The NMR is used to analyse molecular structures. 

Last month the Department of Chemistry celebrated the installation of the most advanced single crystal X-ray diffractometer in Africa.  The diffractometer provides an indispensable technique to investigate among others the solid state of compounds for medicinal application.

“Three years ago the UFS executive management realised that, if we want to build a university of excellence, we should invest in research.  We started to think strategically about chemistry and decided to bring the apparatus at the Department of Chemistry on a more competitive standard.  Strategic partnerships were therefore secured with companies like Sasol,” said Prof Fourie during the inauguration ceremony.

“The installation of the NMR symbolises the ability of the UFS to turn academic areas around.  I hope that this is the beginning of a decade of excellence for chemistry at the UFS,” said Prof Fourie.

”The catalogue value of the Bruker 600 MHz NMR is approximately R11 million.  With such an advanced apparatus we are now able to train much more post-graduate students,“ said Prof Jannie Swarts, head of the Division Physical Chemistry at the UFS.

”The NMR is the flagship apparatus of the UFS Department of Chemistry that enables chemists to look at compounds more easily at a molecular level.  Research in chemistry is critically dependent on NMR, which is a technique that can determine the composition of reactants and products in complicated chemical reactions, with direct application is most focus areas in chemistry,“ said Prof Swarts.

”Parts of the spectrometer consists of non-commercial items that were specifically designed for the UFS Department of Chemistry to allow the study of unique interactions in e.g. rhodium and platinum compounds,” said Prof Swarts.

According to Prof Swarts the NMR enables chemists to conduct investigations on the following:

To evaluate for example the complex behaviour of DNA in proteins as well as the analysis of illegal drugs sometimes used by athletes. 
It provides an indispensable technique to investigate compounds for medicinal application for example in breast, prostate and related bone cancer identification and therapy, which are currently synthesised in the Department of Chemistry.  
It can also be applied to the area of homogeneous catalysis where new and improved compounds for industrial application are synthesized and characterised, whereby Sasol and even the international petrochemical industry could benefit. This analytical capacity is highly rated, especially in the current climate of increased oil prices.
The NMR can detect and identify small concentrations of impurities in feed streams in the petrochemical industry, e.g. at Sasol and also the international petrochemical industry.  These minute amounts of impurities can result in metal catalyst deactivation or decomposition and can cause million of rands worth in product losses.
It is indispensable for studying the complexity of samples that is non-crystalline. These materials represent the vast majority of chemical compounds such as solvents, gasoline, cooking oil, cleaning agents and colorants as examples. 

According to Prof Swarts the general medical technique of MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) in use at larger hospitals, is based on NMR technology.

”The NMR apparatus enabled the Department of Chemistry to characterise complex molecules that were synthesised for the multi-national company, FARMOFS-PAREXEL, and to negotiate research agreements with overseas universities,” said Prof Swarts. 

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:  (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
22 November 2005
 

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