- As South Africans prepare to vote, a growing water crisis in Johannesburg and Tshwane is turning service delivery failures into a major election battleground.
- With contaminated water, empty taps and mounting public anger dominating headlines, governing coalitions are being forced onto the defensive just days before the polls.
By Jonathan Erasmus
If anyone doubted a week ago that water would become one of the defining issues of South Africa’s local government elections, the events of the past few days should have settled the argument.
With less than two weeks before voters head to the polls on 4 November, water failures in Tshwane and Johannesburg have become major political liabilities for the governing coalitions in both cities.
And what’s worse is that the political consequences could spill over into municipalities across the country.
What makes these failures particularly significant is where they are happening.
Had similar events occurred recently in the
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