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After a thorough analysis of President Ramaphosa’s “Water Crisis Plan”, the DA cannot accept that it will address South Africa’s pressing water supply crisis.

I am deeply concerned that the President’s Plan lacks bold, new solutions, or any budget for implementation.

The Parliamentary Committee on the Presidency must now step in to hold the President accountable for this lacklustre plan, before it is too late.

The DA will urgently write to the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee overseeing the Presidency to refer the President’s recycled plan, and the process he followed to compile this plan, for serious and thorough scrutiny by Parliament.

The DA is adamant that each promise made by President Ramaphosa in his “Water Crisis Plan” must be accounted for.

I will await a reply from the Chairperson of the Committee, which is why we are calling for this matter to be tabled at the next meeting (on 14 August 2026) of this Committee to discuss President Ramaphosa’s SONA commitments – of which the Water Crisis Plan is a critical element.

The DA refuses to wait until summer, when millions more will suffer.

- A Summit was held in January 2024, which produced its own Water Action Plan,
- An Indaba was held in March 2025 for progress on the 2024 Plan.
- A Presidential Working Group was established in March 2025.
- The President came to Parliament in February 2026 and promised more action, another committee and another plan,
- The Deputy President’s Water Committee was taken over by the President’s own, and it took 6 months to produce anything,
- The DA pursued this document for months, including filing PAIA applications to get it,
- Now there is this Crisis Plan – but the new plan is nothing more than old plans recycled.

South Africans need and should demand water that flows and accountability from those who fail them.

Yesterday, we learned that a progress report submitted to the Presidential Johannesburg Working Group shows that on 30 June, the City of Johannesburg took R3.4 billion out of Johannesburg Water’s account and left it with a balance of zero. The money was removed on 30 June because “Ring-fencing” of water income at the City was meant to begin on 1 July. This exemplifies how ANC-run Metros treat water and water revenue, which the President’s “Water Crisis Plan” will not change.

While residents cannot wash, cannot cook, cannot drink, we need action, new and bold plans, with new and bold budget realignment. We need ring-fencing that is enforced, not dodged and undermined in plain sight by Metros like Johannesburg.

The Parliamentary Committee must now hold the Presidency to account on the following:

- Real implementation targets: When and how will the President implement this plan?
- Clear, measurable, municipality-specific targets, deadlines and regular public progress reports.
- Progress on enforcing ring-fencing of water income: How will municipalities be forced to keep water revenue for water supply maintenance?
- Consequences for municipalities and Metros that do not comply: How will the President and Presidency hold them to account?

Yet another failed plan is not going to deal with the water crisis we face in this country. Only the DA has the solution to deliver an affordable and reliable water supply.

Issued by DA Spokesperson on Water & Sanitation Stephen Moore