Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
24 July 2025 | 13:15 CAT
2 min read

When Greenpeace Africa handed over a murky, stomach-turning glass of water from the Jukskei River to the Department of Water and Sanitation, it was not a stunt. It was a cry for help. A desperate attempt to get leaders to see and smell the crisis millions live with every day.

On The Insight, Shumirai Zizhou, Responsive Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, shared what her team saw on the ground. “There was quite a foul stench in the air. It was horribly polluted. We were scared to even dip a toe in it,” she said.

What should be life-giving rivers have become dangerous. Shumirai and her team feared someone might slip and fall in. “We’d have to call an ambulance because we don’t know what kind of atrocities that water would do to a person’s health,” she added.

At the heart of this crisis, Shumirai said, there is a deep disconnect between leadership and the people. “One ranger told me, ‘They don’t come here. They don’t see what we see.’”. When she asked if any minister had visited the area. The answer was no.

Shumirai believes this is more than just mismanagement. It’s a betrayal of identity and dignity. “When Thabo Mbeki delivered his ‘I am an African’ speech, he spoke about owing his being to the rivers, the valleys, the glades. To be African is to respect and be in tune with nature. When that’s taken away, it’s not just a loss of water. It’s a loss of identity,” she said.

Greenpeace frames the water crisis as a human rights issue, because it is. “This is an act on the part of government of denying people a basic human right. Section 27 of our Constitution guarantees the right to sufficient water. The state is required to take reasonable steps to realise that right. So, when people go days, weeks, even years without clean water, it’s a breach of contract,” she said.

According to Shumirai, the stats are frightening. Only 26 out of 958 water systems in South Africa can provide safe drinking water. One in three is on the brink of collapse. “23% of drinking water meets chemical safety standards. 90% of wastewater is untreated or only partially treated before being dumped into our rivers and oceans. 39% of our wastewater treatment plants are in such a state of disrepair they’d need intensive surveillance to even begin fixing them,” she noted.

Shumirai was clear that the government has good policies and some of the most progressive water laws on the continent. But implementation is the problem. “Poor governance, poor expenditure, and a lack of political will to enforce the laws we already have. That’s what’s broken,” she said.

The crisis is not just what you can see or smell in the water. There are silent killers lurking: microplastics, bacteria, and even ARVs.

Shumirai referred to a study by North West University that found traces of ARVs in drinking water across 72 sites. She also recalled the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal, where over 20 people died. “Cholera should not be an issue in a country like ours. It happened because of failed wastewater management,” she said.

At the Jukskei, the team saw no life. “No fish, no frogs. Just carcasses. Cats, dogs. Community members even told us people discard stillborns or babies in the river because there’s nowhere else,” she explained.

Despite the horror, Shumirai insists it is not all hopeless: “We have to keep fighting. No African liberation movement happened in ten days. It took decades.”

She said change must come from both government and communities: “Write to your ward councillor, your local mayor. They’ve been given these roles to serve you. They must be held to that.”

Greenpeace is currently running a water petition and has created a tweet tool for citizens to directly message the Minister of Water and Sanitation. But Shumirai believes real power lies in informed communities. “Governments thrive when people don’t have access to information. So those of us who know, we have a duty to share. To empower others to go to government and say: ‘We’re not asking. We’re demanding. Because this is our right’,” she said.

Until those in power stop ignoring the rivers, Greenpeace Africa reminds us that the rot will keep rising.

LISTEN to the full interview on the insight with Muallimah Annisa Essack and Shumirai Zizhou, Responsive Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, here.