Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina will represent South Africa at a high-level international meeting in Dakar, Senegal, as preparations intensify for the 2026 United Nations Water Conference.
The High-Level Preparatory Meeting, taking place from 26 - 27 January 2025, will set the direction for the global conference scheduled for December and help shape priorities, commitments and partnerships aimed at accelerating universal access to safe water and dignified sanitation.
A major highlight of the Dakar engagement will be a ministerial roundtable discussion on “Investments for Water: Financing, technology and innovation, and capacity-building”, which South Africa will co-host with France. The session is expected to focus on unlocking funding and innovation to address Africa’s growing water and sanitation challenges.
“South Africa will lead this discussion on behalf of the African continent and will use the platform to advocate for increased investment in water and sanitation programmes that strengthen climate resilience, support economic growth and advance human development,” the Department of Water and Sanitation said in a statement on Friday.
The meeting builds on momentum generated at the Africa Water Investment Summit held in Cape Town last year, where African ministers, financiers, investors and development partners committed to closing the continent’s water and sanitation investment gap. Dakar is expected to provide a crucial bridge between those continental commitments and the evolving global water agenda.
The department emphasised that water is more than a natural resource for South Africa — it underpins health, food security, energy generation, job creation and human dignity. Yet across Africa, millions of people continue to face water scarcity, ageing infrastructure and limited access to financing for critical improvements.
“By participating in the High-Level Preparatory Meeting, Majodina is working to ensure that African priorities translate into concrete investments and long-term solutions,” the department said.
The Dakar meeting aims to produce a shared roadmap towards the 2026 UN Water Conference, which will be co-hosted by Senegal and the United Arab Emirates in December. Its outcomes are expected to influence the global water agenda and feed into several high-level international fora throughout the year.
South Africa views the engagement as an opportunity to strengthen strategic partnerships, amplify African voices and ensure that preparations for the 2026 conference are firmly rooted in the continent’s realities, ambitions and opportunities.
Majodina’s programme will include high-level political dialogues, thematic discussions and bilateral meetings with representatives from multilateral institutions, regional organisations, development finance institutions and the private sector.
Beyond the investment-focused roundtable, discussions will also cover:
- Water for people — the human rights to water and sanitation, particularly for vulnerable communities;
- Water for prosperity — valuing water, the water-energy-food nexus, efficient water use and sustainable economic development;
- Water for the planet — climate change, biodiversity, resilience and disaster risk reduction;
- Water for cooperation — transboundary water governance, scientific collaboration and inclusive institutions, and
- Water in multilateral processes — Sustainable Development Goal 6, the 2030 Agenda and global water initiatives. – SAnews.gov.za
