The widespread water disruptions experienced across Gauteng this past week are not an isolated incident, nor can they be blamed solely on routine maintenance by Rand Water. They are the inevitable consequence of years, if not decades, of neglect, deferred maintenance and ignored warnings about the fragile state of South Africa’s water infrastructure.

Johannesburg, the country’s economic heartland, has once again found itself at the centre of the crisis. While Rand Water’s upstream maintenance is necessary and planned, its impact has been severely amplified by the deteriorating condition of municipal infrastructure. Reservoirs that should have provided sufficient buffer capacity are leaking, bypassed, or unable to store adequate volumes of water. In addition, aging piping networks struggle to move water efficiently from bulk suppliers to end users.

In a properly maintained system, scheduled maintenance upstream should barely be noticed by residents. Instead, large parts of Gauteng were left without water for days. Communities grew frustrated, tempers flared and protest action followed — an all-too-familiar pattern as service delivery failures increasingly spill over into social unrest.

“The situation in Johannesburg is symbolic of a wider national problem. When half of a city’s reservoirs are leaking, when storage capacity is compromised and when basic preventative maintenance has not been carried out, even minor disruptions become crises. This is not a sudden collapse. It is a slow-motion failure that has been visible for years,” says Jan Venter, CEO of the Southern African Plastic Pipe Manufacturers Association (SAPPMA).

Warnings That Went Unheeded

For more than a decade, SAPPMA has consistently raised the alarm about the urgent need to invest in water infrastructure, particularly in pipeline maintenance, replacement and long-term planning. Time and again, these warnings were met with delay, deprioritisation or silence.

“Municipalities routinely failed to spend their allocated infrastructure budgets, especially funds earmarked for pipeline upgrades and maintenance. As a result, networks continued to age well beyond their design life, leaks worsened and water losses mounted. Today more than 40 % of the available drinking water is lost in many parts of our country,” Venter says.

The consequences of this inaction extend beyond service delivery failures. South Africa’s pipe manufacturing industry has been left fighting for survival. With infrastructure projects stalled or cancelled and capital budgets unspent, demand collapsed. Over the past few years, several manufacturers have been forced to downscale or close their doors entirely, taking skilled jobs, local capacity and institutional knowledge with them.

“This hollowing out of local manufacturing capacity is particularly short-sighted at a time when the country desperately needs reliable, locally produced infrastructure solutions,” the industry body states.

No Time for Shortcuts

As government and municipalities scramble to respond to the current crisis, it is critical that urgency does not translate into poor decision-making. Shortcuts, such as using substandard materials, untested suppliers or non-compliant products, will only lock in the next failure.

Stresses Venter: “Water infrastructure is not a short-term fix. Pipelines installed today must last for the next 50 to 100 years. They must be designed, specified and installed correctly, using products that comply with South African National Standards and are suited to local conditions”.

This is where SAPPMA plays a vital role. As the custodian of quality, compliance and best practice in the plastic pipe industry, SAPPMA ensures that its members manufacture pipes that are fit for purpose, durable and designed for long-term performance. In a country facing increasing climate pressure, population growth and water scarcity, anything less is unacceptable.

A Call for Collaboration

SAPPMA expresses the hope that the current crisis should serve as a turning point.

“Fixing South Africa’s water infrastructure will not be achieved through blame-shifting or reactive interventions alone. It requires meaningful collaboration between national government, municipalities, engineers, manufacturers and industry bodies,” Venter says.

SAPPMA stands ready to work with decision-makers and municipal officials to help assess infrastructure needs, guide appropriate material selection and support sustainable, long-term solutions.

Concludes Venter: “The expertise exists. The manufacturing capability exists. What is needed now is political will, accountability and a commitment to spend infrastructure budgets where they matter most. South Africa cannot afford to ignore the warning signs any longer. The cost of inaction is already being paid by residents without water, by communities pushed to protest, and by industries pushed to the brink. The choice is clear: invest wisely now, or face a future of recurring crises that will be far more expensive to fix”.