Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

Water Services Amendment Bill: AfriForum warns centralised control will not fix the crisis

ByAfriForum 02/03/202602/03/2026

Soundbite: Lambert de Klerk (English)

Soundbite: Lambert de Klerk (Afrikaans)

AfriForum submitted formal comments to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation on the Water Services Amendment Bill. AfriForum welcomes certain provisions aimed at strengthening accountability – particularly personal liability, enhanced enforcement mechanisms, and some governance reforms – but cautions that the Bill, in its current form, may entrench the structural weaknesses behind the country’s water crisis rather than resolve them.

AfriForum argues that the water services crisis is not primarily caused by a lack of legislation, but by institutional failure, politicised technical appointments, weakened oversight, inadequate enforcement, and declining professional capacity. The ongoing realities of wastewater treatment failures, sewage pollution and serious water-quality threats underscore systemic operational collapse that legislative reform alone cannot fix without independence, competence and consistent accountability.

“We already have laws that prescribe duties and standards. What is missing is professional capacity, independent oversight, and consistent enforcement. Without safeguards, new powers can translate into centralisation and political interference instead of improved service delivery,” says Lambert de Klerk, Manager for Environmental Affairs at AfriForum.

AfriForum calls on the Committee to refine the Bill by strengthening institutional independence, prioritising technical competence, clarifying procedural safeguards for interventions and enforcement, enabling broader participation in service delivery to support durable sector recovery and enabling more private sector involvement and participation on service delivery.