Last Saturday, while the rest of the country was commemorating Human Rights Day, the people of Makhanda were out on the streets protesting for the most basic of human rights — the right to safe drinking water.
While politicians were giving well-written speeches and publishing eloquent statements about South Africa being a beacon of constitutional democracy and having what is alleged to be the best constitution in the world, hundreds of households across Makhanda were entering another week without water.
If you only came across the news about water outages in Makhanda on Saturday, you may have been led to believe that it was a recent occurrence.
In reality, the water crisis in Makhanda has been going on for over a decade.
I know this because in 2012 I moved to what was then known as Grahamstown to pursue my undergraduate studies at Rhodes University.
Within no time the water crisis became a feature of everyday life.
Throughout the five years that I lived in Makhanda water supply was intermittent.
I cannot recount the number of times that students and the broader community marched to municipal offices at the Grahamstown City Hall in High Street, demanding safe drinking water.
Every march concluded with the submission of a memorandum that would likely be tossed into the bin by officials.
I say this because within months the same issue would arise, the same protests staged, the same memorandum submitted, and the same promises made that would result in absolutely no improvement.
Nearly 15 years later, the cycle is continuing.
The reality of the situation is that the water crisis in Makhanda is the direct result of over a decade of poor governance and maladministration.
For many years, the municipality has failed to prioritise water infrastructure — a matter that will no doubt be confirmed by the ongoing Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation that is looking into numerous cases of tender corruption.
Four of the tenders being investigated relate to water infrastructure.
In 2022 the municipality spent R2.7m for a water pump that was never installed.
The kuGompo City-based company that was awarded the R4.7m tender did procure the pump per the contractual agreement with the municipality, but did not install it as it was still owed more money by the municipality.
The installation has been withheld pending the payment of this outstanding amount.
But the situation goes deeper than a single pump.
Water infrastructure across Makhanda, and most of the Eastern Cape province, is in a state of dysfunction.
And this comes back to municipal governance.
The Makana local municipality, which governs Makhanda, has a chronic mismanagement crisis that has not been resolved by any intervention the provincial and national government has ever tried.
It has received disclaimers of opinion from the Auditor General for six years in a row.
It is the most severe type of audit report which is given when auditors cannot access required documents or records to verify financial data or when multiple, complex and interrelated uncertainties prevent a clear understanding of the financial position.
A disclaimer not only implies a potential lack of internal controls or transparency, but it also makes it hard for institutions to secure financing as it serves as a red flag for investors regarding financial stability.
This means that for residents of Makhanda, there is a slim chance that the private sector may even want to intervene because it cannot guarantee any return on investments into a town that, all things being equal, should be a magnet for investments, given that it hosts some of the most critical institutions in the country that include a premier university.
This is not only the mark of poor governance, but also a fragrant disregard for the basic human rights of Makhanda residents whose development is linked to sustainable economic development and growth.
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