Green Drop Report

Portance and sanitation infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating, prompting the South African

Human Rights Commission, SHRC, to issue a warning of a national disaster that are in

the making.

The Commission called for urgent government intervention, as follows the release of the

Department of Water and Sanitation 2025 Green Drop Reports.

This report assesses a waste water treatment system across the country.

Joining us down the line, we have Human Rights Commission Hank Boschoff, Hank a very good

morning to you and welcome.

Good morning, thank you for adding me.

Explain to our listeners what exactly is this green drop report and what does it tell us

about water infrastructure in South Africa?

Well, firstly, the Minister for Water and Sanitation released the green drop, the blue drop

and the no drop reports on the 31st of March.

Now the purpose of these reports is basically to assess the performance of water services

authorities or municipalities in drinking drinking water quality, wastewater management

treatment, as well as water conservation and demand management.

Now the last report that was released was in 2022 or reports that were released in 2022

and it was reinstated by government, it was altered for a short while, but it's a helpful

tool in understanding what the quality of our drinking water is, how waste water is

being managed by water services authorities and municipalities, and it also exists in

the Constitution, it's like the South African Human Rights Commission in the exercise and

oversight responsibility to hold the relevant authorities accountable.

How bad is it?

I mean, they talk about nearly half of the country's waste water infrastructure, teetering on

the brink of failure.

Does the report give any indication as to why and on how to fix it?

Yeah, the purpose is very bad to answer your question.

Just if one looks at the report on the Department of Water and Sanitation,

40, 49% of water treatment works in South Africa is in a critical state,

which is very serious and if water, the waste water treatment works and waste water treatment in

general, if it is not managed competently, effectively, efficiently, then obviously it has a

serious effect on the environment and remember one of the objects in terms of the Constitution

is that everyone in South Africa or the object of local government is that everyone in South

Africa is entitled to a clean and safe environment, but if water, waste water is not treated properly

and if it is discharged into the environment and treated, then obviously there's a risk

of effecting the health of everyone in South Africa.

Where does the buck stop yank?

Well, it's very important that we hold water services authorities, that we hold municipalities,

and that we hold government in general accountable, which simply cannot allow a situation

where the health of South Africa is at risk. Secondly, where the quality of the

quality of drinking water, where the quality of drinking water is very poor. In many municipalities,

these South Africa, you've also seen that in the blue drop reports, we need to hold government

accountable, we need to insist that they provide adequate services to communities and from,

as the Human Rights Commission, we have done that. We have conducted quite a few inquiries

in South Africa in almost all the provinces now in the country. The next one will be in

halting during May and inquiry into water provision, but we've had inquiries in the

pre-state Northern Cape North, there's KZN, Bumalanga, Lepopo. We've held the Pina hearings,

investigated inquiries, and we've settled all our reports in legislatures and also parliament

on a regular basis. The portfolio committee on corporate governments as well as the select committee

and the national council of provinces based on the reports issued by the Human Rights Commission

have visited provinces and they're also playing there, the site role in holding municipalities

and also your water services authorities accountable, but along in the short is we should

hold as communities as civil society, as chapter nine institutions, we should continue to hold

government accountable. Indeed, thank you so much for your time and for chatting to us, appreciate it.