ah@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n24 July 2025 | 13:15 CAT
\n2 min read<\/p>\nWhen 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.<\/p>\n
On The Insight, Shumirai Zizhou, Responsive Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, shared what her team saw on the ground. \u201cThere was quite a foul stench in the air. It was horribly polluted. We were scared to even dip a toe in it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
What should be life-giving rivers have become dangerous. Shumirai and her team feared someone might slip and fall in. \u201cWe\u2019d have to call an ambulance because we don\u2019t know what kind of atrocities that water would do to a person\u2019s health,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
At the heart of this crisis, Shumirai said, there is a deep disconnect between leadership and the people. \u201cOne ranger told me, \u2018They don\u2019t come here. They don\u2019t see what we see.\u2019\u201d. When she asked if any minister had visited the area. The answer was no.<\/p>\n
Shumirai believes this is more than just mismanagement. It\u2019s a betrayal of identity and dignity. \u201cWhen Thabo Mbeki delivered his \u2018I am an African\u2019 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\u2019s taken away, it\u2019s not just a loss of water. It\u2019s a loss of identity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Greenpeace frames the water crisis as a human rights issue, because it is. \u201cThis 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\u2019s a breach of contract,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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. \u201c23% 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\u2019d need intensive surveillance to even begin fixing them,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cPoor governance, poor expenditure, and a lack of political will to enforce the laws we already have. That\u2019s what\u2019s broken,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The crisis is not just what you can see or smell in the water. There are silent killers lurking: microplastics, bacteria, and even ARVs.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cCholera should not be an issue in a country like ours. It happened because of failed wastewater management,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At the Jukskei, the team saw no life. \u201cNo fish, no frogs. Just carcasses. Cats, dogs. Community members even told us people discard stillborns or babies in the river because there\u2019s nowhere else,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Despite the horror, Shumirai insists it is not all hopeless: \u201cWe have to keep fighting. No African liberation movement happened in ten days. It took decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said change must come from both government and communities: \u201cWrite to your ward councillor, your local mayor. They\u2019ve been given these roles to serve you. They must be held to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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. \u201cGovernments thrive when people don\u2019t 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: \u2018We\u2019re not asking. We\u2019re demanding. Because this is our right\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Until those in power stop ignoring the rivers, Greenpeace Africa reminds us that the rot will keep rising.<\/p>\n
LISTEN<\/strong> to the full interview on the insight with Muallimah Annisa Essack and Shumirai Zizhou, Responsive Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Azra Hoosen |\u00a0ah@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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":99331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/The-Insight-2.png?fit=940%2C788&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pQ6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-19 21:32:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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