Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo says South Africa needs at least R1 trillion in water sector investment to address growing challenges linked to climate change and population growth.
Speaking to SAnews on the sidelines of the African Union–Africa Water Investment Programme (AU-AIP) Water Summit 2025, currently underway at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, Mahlobo warned that the world is falling behind in meeting the water and sanitation targets set for 2030.
Mahlobo said the world is lagging - with at least 2.2 billion people globally not having access to safe drinking water, and more than 3.6 billion people not having access to decent sanitation.
“For us to achieve these numbers, we have to scale up our investment five time more in terms of investment around access to clean water, and six times more around access to decent sanitation. But equally we are having challenges of climate change [as] more than 2.4 billion people are living in water stressed countries, and Africa, especially South Africa, are the most in need,” Mahlobo said.
“In the world, the backlog is estimated at US$7 trillion. In our continent, we are looking at about a US$30 billion gap per annum, [and] in our own country, we are looking at R1 trillion that we need to be investing in water,” Mahlobo said.
Mahlobo noted that while public investment remains critical, national budgets alone cannot meet demand.
“The fiscus in most African countries is not adequate to meet the new demand that is driven by economic and population growth.”
He emphasised the importance of private sector participation and support from development finance institutions.
While the banking institutions, including African Bank, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, and theWorld Bank have already started some work, Mahlobo stressed the need to scale up.
He said South Africa will by the end of the year, share with communities what government is doing in terms of public investment. He said the richest countries and Heads of State and Government, will also meet to discuss the issue of water and sanitation.
Mahlobo underscored that investment in water is fundamental to national prosperity, noting that “when there are problems of no access to water, you will have problems of many wars that could be created.”
“If there is no decent sanitation in the 21st century, you will have water borne diseases, [and] many people are going to perish on issues that we should have attended to. We cannot afford not to invest in water and sanitation because it is the right thing to do,” Mahlobo told SAnews.
He added that advances in scientific, technological, and engineering provide the tools needed to address these challenges, but political will and financing must align.
The three-day summit which kicks off on Tuesday, saw the Heads of State and Government committing to create an enabling environment for enhancing investment in water and sanitation.
The commitments align with national development plans, Sustainable Development Goal 6, and climate resilience priorities. – SAnews.gov.za
