Flooded with complaints, the South African Human Rights Commission has launched a formal inquiry into whether Gauteng’s water failures amount to systemic rights violations, and it wants to hear from residents. Submissions close on 30 April.
The South African Human Rights Commission has stopped treating Gauteng’s water crisis as a series of individual complaints. This week, its Gauteng provincial office announced a formal investigative inquiry into whether the prolonged outages, infrastructure failures and inconsistent access to clean water across the province amount to systemic violations of human rights. It is the most serious step the commission has taken on water in the province, and it opens a rare opportunity for residents to put their experiences on the record.
Why the commission acted
The commission says it has been flooded with complaints about water. Rather than respond to each one separately, it decided that the scale and persistence of the failures called for a public inquiry. It describes Gauteng as facing a sustained and deepening water crisis, marked by persistent shortages, intermittent supply, failing and poorly maintained infrastructure, contamination risks, governance failures and inadequate emergency responses.
The commission stresses that the effects fall hardest on those least able to cope: poor and marginalised communities, residents of informal settlements, schools, health facilities and social care institutions. Many have turned to boreholes, private tankers or, in the most underserved areas, unsafe sources.
The official data support that picture. The Gauteng Water Dashboard for March 2026 showed high demand, critically low reservoir storage and very high water losses, with non-revenue water at 49 percent in Johannesburg, 44 percent in Tshwane and 31 percent in Ekurhuleni. Earlier this year, Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina authorised an additional 200 million cubic metres of water for abstraction until June 2026, while municipalities use throttling and load shifting to keep systems running.
What the inquiry will examine
The inquiry has a broad scope. It will examine the extent and root causes of the failures, including infrastructure collapse, and assess how they affect people’s rights, particularly the most vulnerable. Crucially, it will test whether the state has taken reasonable steps to progressively realise the right of access to sufficient water, as section 27 of the Constitution requires. It will look at governance, planning, budgeting, infrastructure management and emergency responses, and it intends to issue findings, recommendations and directives.
The tanker mafia
One issue will receive particular attention. The commission says the crisis has created secondary harms, including the rise of what it calls informal and exploitative water distribution economies, commonly known as water tanker mafias. Municipalities began using private tankers as a temporary measure during supply interruptions, but prolonged outages have created dependence on unregulated private operators.
Criminal networks have reportedly won tenders through corruption, vandalised infrastructure to keep the outages going, and illegally charged residents for municipal water. The commission has already published a policy document on how government could tackle the problem, and the inquiry will look at how the tanker economy emerged and what damage it has done. The Department of Water and Sanitation has urged municipalities to bring tanker services in-house to reduce opportunities for corruption.
Have your say
The commission is inviting written submissions from anyone affected by the water crisis in Gauteng, including residents, civil society organisations, researchers, activists and government or municipal officials. Submissions can cover the causes and impacts of the crisis, the responses so far and proposed solutions. The deadline is 30 April 2026.
Submissions can be emailed to gpwaterinquiry2026@sahrc.org.za or delivered to the commission’s Gauteng provincial office at the 4th Floor, Sentinel House Office Park, 32 Princess of Wales Terrace, Parktown, Johannesburg. After reviewing the written submissions, the commission will decide whom to invite to give oral evidence at hearings scheduled for 19 to 21 May 2026.
Will it make a difference?
Civil society has welcomed the inquiry. WaterCAN’s executive director, Ferrial Adam, has urged residents to make submissions and said the organisation will submit its own. WaterCAN wants the inquiry’s findings to carry real weight, with binding outcomes rather than recommendations that are quietly ignored. Water activist Tarryn Johnston called the inquiry long overdue, arguing that the crisis has already crossed into systemic failure.
The commission’s track record offers some reason for hope and some reason for caution. Its 2021 inquiry into sewage pollution of the Vaal River produced damning findings and helped push national government into intervening in Emfuleni, a process that eventually led to the launch of a new ring-fenced water utility in November 2025. But that took years, and many of the commission’s recommendations were slow to be implemented.
What the inquiry can do is create an authoritative public record. Hearings will put municipal managers, utilities and officials under oath and in public view. Findings that rights have been violated will strengthen the hand of residents, civil society and Parliament in demanding action. For the many Gauteng residents who have spent weeks without water, the inquiry offers something they have often been denied: a formal hearing. Anyone with a story to tell should take the chance before 30 April.
References
GroundUp: Human Rights Commission calls for submissions on Gauteng water crisis inquiry (April 2026): https://groundup.org.za/article/human-rights-commission-calls-for-submissions-on-gauteng-water-crisis-inquiry/
Daily Maverick: Gauteng’s deepening water crisis sparks Human Rights Commission investigation, have your say (15 April 2026): https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-04-15-gautengs-deepening-water-crisis-sparks-human-rights-commission-investigation-have-your-say/
Engineering News: South African Human Rights Commission calls for submissions for its inquiry into Gauteng’s water crisis (13 April 2026): https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/south-african-human-rights-commission-calls-for-submissions-for-its-inquiry-into-gautengs-water-crisis-2026-04-13
South African Human Rights Commission: Final Report of the Gauteng Provincial Inquiry into the Sewage Problem of the Vaal River (February 2021): https://sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/The%20Vaal%20Inquiry%20Final%20Report_17022021.pdf
IOL: Human Rights Commission warns of impending disaster in South Africa (4 April 2026): https://iol.co.za/news/south-africa/2026-04-04-human-rights-commission-warns-of-impending-disaster-in-south-africa/