{"id":89860,"date":"2025-09-15T13:34:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse"},"modified":"2025-09-15T13:57:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:57:48","slug":"joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse","title":{"rendered":"Joburg\u2019s water crisis could get even worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>A long-delayed R53 billion project that South Africa\u2019s commercial hub is banking on to end a growing water crisis has hit fresh opposition.<\/p>\n

Communities comprising 1,600 people have filed a formal complaint to the African Development Bank and demanded that the Lesotho Highlands Water Project II be temporarily halted.<\/p>\n

Among other issues, they say they\u2019ve been displaced by the development and denied adequate compensation.<\/p>\n

The AfDB, together with the New Development Bank and South African government, is financing the project, which will boost the supply of water from mountainous Lesotho to Johannesburg and its surrounds in neighboring South Africa.<\/p>\n

The AfDB lent $87 million to the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority, a South African state company that is overseeing the construction of a dam, a tunnel and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe physical destruction of homes, land, and health cannot be undone,\u201d the communities said in a 32-page complaint backed by the San Francisco-based Accountability Counsel, a nonprofit that supports groups harmed by international finance. \u201cWe therefore request that a temporary suspension be imposed on the project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AfDB, which is based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, acknowledged receipt of questions but didn\u2019t respond. Trans-Caledon didn\u2019t reply to emailed queries, while Gerard Mokone, an official at the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

The Accountability Counsel has previously pursued cases from Mongolia to Nepal and Papua New Guinea. In Liberia, it successfully lobbied for an investigation into a $200 million US Overseas Private Investment Corp. finance deal for a biomass project.<\/p>\n

That led to a change in US legislation to make the organisation accountable for harm caused by its investment decision.<\/p>\n

Delays to the Lesotho project, originally due to be completed in 2019 and now set for completion in 2030, are exacerbating water outages in an area that includes Johannesburg and accounts for 60% of South Africa\u2019s economic output. Development costs have meanwhile ballooned, fueling political criticism.<\/p>\n

The communities, also advised by Lesotho\u2019s Seinoli Legal Centre, listed a litany of complaints about the impact of the project in the letter to the AfDB dated 11 September.<\/p>\n

Those ranged from tunnel blasting damaging households, broken water pipes, inadequate information about where those displaced will be moved to and a lack of transparency on compensation.<\/p>\n

HIV infections<\/b><\/p>\n

The villagers also said southern bald ibises, rare birds that attracted tourists, had left the area away and there had been a rise in teenage pregnancies and HIV infections near the contractors\u2019 work camps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AfDB has contributed to this harm by not adhering to its environmental and social safeguards,\u201d the communities said. \u201cWe are not opposed to the project objectives. What we are opposed to is having to suffer harm in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint was filed with the AfDB\u2019s Independent Recourse Mechanism. That department has the power to recommend the suspension of a project to the AfDB\u2019s board.<\/p>\n

The communities said they are seeking to start a dispute-resolution process.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. A long-delayed R53 billion project that South Africa\u2019s commercial hub is banking on to end a growing water crisis has hit fresh opposition. Communities comprising 1,600 people have filed a formal complaint to the African Development Bank and demanded that the Lesotho Highlands Water Project II be temporarily halted. Among other issues, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":89859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-89860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nJoburg\u2019s water crisis could get even worse - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A long-delayed R53 billion project that South Africa\u2019s commercial hub is banking on to end a growing water crisis has hi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joburg\u2019s water crisis could get even worse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A long-delayed R53 billion project that South Africa\u2019s commercial hub is banking on to end a growing water crisis has hi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-15T13:34:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-15T13:57:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757932028.532562.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Joburg\u2019s water crisis could get even worse\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-15T13:34:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-15T13:57:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse\"},\"wordCount\":503,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/09\/sm_1757932028.532562.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/joburgs-water-crisis-could-get-even-worse\",\"name\":\"Joburg\u2019s water crisis could get even worse - 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