By Johnathan Paoli
The national government marked Nelson Mandela Day on Saturday by launching a major new initiative aimed at accelerating access to safe drinking water, with President Cyril Ramaphosa officially unveiling the National Water Access Acceleration Programme at the Klipdrift Water Treatment Plant in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria.
Addressing guests at the official opening of the programme and cutting the ribbon at the new facility, Ramaphosa praised the collaboration between the different spheres of government that made the project possible.
“This is a great achievement. I’m really pleased that we are also doing it on Nelson Mandela Day. This is a day when all of us must be making a contribution to make the lives of our people a lot better, a lot easier, where we bring progress to our people as a whole,” Ramaphosa said.
“There’s much more still to be done. We still need to do many more things. We thank the chair of the board and Magalies Water for the work that they are doing. But more needs to be done, so that we can address the needs of our people,” he added.
The president insisted that this was only one of many more steps planned by the government.
The programme, led by the Water and Sanitation department, is intended to fast-track practical water solutions for underserved and unserved communities, with simultaneous projects launched in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
The launch also coincided with the commissioning of the Klipdrift Modular Water Package Plant, an innovative facility that will significantly increase potable water supply to Hammanskraal, an area that has endured years of unreliable water services and was thrust into the national spotlight following the deadly 2023 cholera outbreak.
Before the official launch ceremony, Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina said the programme formed part of the government’s response after water was declared a national crisis.
“The programme is part of a water action plan, which the President declared after water was identified as a crisis. We have called all our entities to come together with us. We have also top-sliced our budget to say now we must go to unserved communities,” she said.
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Majodina said the government was increasingly looking beyond traditional dam infrastructure by investing in groundwater and decentralised supply schemes capable of delivering water much faster.
Responding to questions about why some communities still lacked clean water more than three decades into democracy, Majodina pointed to historic backlogs and population growth.
“The backlog from the past government has been huge. We don’t shy away from saying there are people who are still not receiving clean water in South Africa. Hence we are bringing this project,” she said.
Ahead of the ceremony, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi also stressed the urgency of improving municipal service delivery, saying water and electricity remained the province’s most pressing priorities.
“We need to accelerate the services that we need to render to our communities. Two of those services are mainly water and electricity,” Lesufi said.
He acknowledged that while some municipalities faced significant financial and infrastructure challenges, most continued to cooperate with the provincial government, with support measures under discussion.
The National Water Access Acceleration Programme targets rural communities across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
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A key feature of the initiative is the rollout of 67 boreholes, symbolising the 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted to public service.
Besides the Hammanskraal launch, projects were simultaneously unveiled at the Nhlengile Spring Water Package Plant in KwaZulu-Natal’s uMzinyathi District Municipality and the Mncwasa Water Scheme in Mqanduli in the Eastern Cape.
Central to Saturday’s launch was the Klipdrift Modular Water Package Plant, which represents a significant engineering innovation.
The facility adds 50 megalitres of treated water per day to the existing Klipdrift Water Treatment Plant, increasing total production capacity from 42 megalitres to 92 megalitres daily.
Constructed at a cost of R758 million, the project consists of four modular units, each capable of producing 12.5 megalitres of potable water per day.
The first completed phase will supply communities including Mandela Village, Marokolong, Ramotse, Kekana Gardens, Kudube Unit 9, Babelegi Industrial and the Bridgeview informal settlement.
Unlike conventional treatment works, the package plant integrates multiple purification processes into a single modular system, allowing it to be constructed far more rapidly while maintaining high water quality standards.
Magalies Water has described it as one of the largest modular water treatment facilities of its kind in Africa and a key intervention in restoring reliable access to clean drinking water for thousands of residents in Hammanskraal and surrounding communities.
