Charles Dickens wrote: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Dickens’ book, A Tale of Two Cities, is set in the late 18th century against the background of the French Revolution, but every single word of the quotation above rings true for the world we find ourselves in currently – the COVID-19 world.
As Freedom Month nears an end, and the pandemic continues to tear across the world, we are all worried about the present and the future. In countries where the virus has hit, many have already lost loved ones. Elsewhere, people are bracing themselves for the spread of the virus, wondering how stretched healthcare systems can possibly cope.
Even for those who have not yet been directly affected, COVID-19 is disrupting lives in unimaginable ways. In South Africa, this virus has underscored the inequalities that exist in society and the fact that the majority of the population lives in less than favourable conditions makes them even more vulnerable to the pandemic.
The South African government has taken some swift and positive steps to try to prevent the spread of the virus and contain the infection rates. This must be applauded, as the World Health Organisation did this week, but it is clear that these plans are being hampered by the many unresolved poverty and inequality issues that haunt the country.
COVID-19 has highlighted the fact that, 26 years after apartheid, the majority of the population still live in poverty and do not have access to essential basic services like water, adequate housing, healthcare and food. The virus has forced the State to provide water tankers to communities, provide the homeless with shelter, plan to move vulnerable people in informal settlements, and try to resettle refugee and migrant communities to name just a few.
However, these are issues that should have been dealt with years ago. Access to healthcare and sufficient, safe and reliable water for the poor and vulnerable has been a consistent challenge over the past two decades. COVID-19 has forced the state to confront the situation head-on and develop adequate contingency plans.
Let’s take the right to water and sanitation: prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 3 million people did not have access to a basic water supply and 14.1 million people did not have access to safe sanitation, according to the government’s National Water and Sanitation Master Plan. Yet, for several weeks now, the government has been advising people to regularly wash their hands with soap and water.
Amnesty International South Africa’s campaign, Right To Water: Turn On The Tap, calls on the South African government to urgently ensure that everyone has access to sufficient, safe and reliable water as a protection measure against COVID-19, and as a reality for everyone, always.
When the outbreak began, the government committed to delivering water to 2 000 communities in South Africa during the pandemic. On Tuesday, 21 April 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa further announced that additional funding of R20 billion will be made available to municipalities for the provision of emergency water supply, among other things.
These steps are vital. Also, according to the Water and Sanitation Master Plan, before the crisis, 5.3 million households did not have access to safe and reliable drinking water; 56% of wastewater treatment plants and 44 % of water treatment works were in poor or critical condition; 11% of the wastewater and general water works were dysfunctional; 41% of municipal water in South Africa did not generate revenue, and 35% of municipal water was lost through leakage.
It’s abundantly clear that investment is direly needed. And, of course, had the state tackled issues pertaining to poverty and inequality in a result-driven way previously, tackling the virus would have been less layered. It is sad that it took a virus for the government to begin providing water to people – a basic human right.
We recognise that these are challenging times for everyone, including the Department of Water and Sanitation, but now is the time to to urgently scale up its efforts, to take a zero tolerance approach to corruption and the mismanagement of funds, and to plan for the long-term: a post-COVID-19 South Africa.
Its own National Water and Sanitation Master Plan notes that high levels of corruption have impacted on service delivery in several municipalities in the past, and this is worrying. It is therefore ever more critical that the most stringent transparent measures must be put in place to ensure that every Rand is accounted for and its impact measured. Every cent must go to the communities that need it most, and the government must be progressive in its planning for the future.
Now more than ever, we need our government to put people first, and to fix the water system once and for all, so that people can be kept safe now and always.
As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said, governments must put human rights at the centre of their pandemic response. In South Africa’s case, this is not only with regards to water but for all rights.
We can only hope that once we come through the eye of the COVID-19 storm, that we are left with ‘the best of times’ – a time where the state continues to protect and uplift the poor and vulnerable and seriously work towards the eradication of poverty and inequality.
Life may feel like it is on hold right now – but the fight for human rights will never stop. We have to ensure that we keep fighting until every person living in South Africa enjoys the human rights they are entitled to.
True freedom can only be celebrated fully if human rights are a reality for everyone, always.
Take action here and call on the South African Government to Turn On The Tap.
Shenilla Mohamed is Executive Director of Amnesty International South Africa. She is a journalist, editor and human rights activist and defender and her career spans over three decades.
