The lack of water in South Africa is the result of a long history of injustice – and legislation should start there

Apartheid’s whites-only water

With the National Party’s rise to power in 1948, its apartheid policies and laws made racial segregation and inequality much worse. Water governance was designed to reinforce apartheid segregation.

The 1956 National Water Act claimed to want “equitable distribution” of water resources. But this law mainly benefited white-owned agriculture, mining and industry. The government prioritised delivery of water to areas designated under segregation as “whites only”.

Government funding was directed towards water systems in white areas. In contrast, many Black communities were not even provided with one tap per household or with waterborne sanitation. This was the case in both urban areas and rural areas (“Bantustans” or “homelands”) that the apartheid government had set aside for specific Black ethnic groups.

Urban settlements like Soweto were established on the outskirts of cities, often on undesirable land. Overcrowding and substandard public services were the norm. By 1976, 93% of households in Soweto still had no access to running water.

In the Bantustans, water service was provided predominantly through unreliable boreholes. These were often located far from settlements, requiring several people to operate them.

In the agricultural and mining sectors, Black labourers faced severe limitations in accessing water. Farms and mines typically had segregated water supplies for white and Black staff. Black workers often had to rely on rudimentary and contaminated sources.

Overall, withholding essential services like water was used as a means to control and subjugate Black labour.