We’re taking government to court for failing to provide clean water

Women in rural Eastern Cape carry water on their heads. Archive photo: Mkhuseli Sizani

Before sunrise in the villages of Toboyi-Komkhulu, Merelis and Kunene in the Eastern Cape, women and girls head for a long walk – through hills and valleys, carrying buckets on their heads or in their hands. They pass goats and sheep drinking the same murky water they will later use to bathe and cook. For many residents of these villages, this daily ritual is a test of endurance, necessary for survival.

These villages, home to over 1,000 households, have no consistent or safe water supply. Their streams have dried due to drought and there are only two communal taps that are still functional. These taps are within reach to just a few homes. For some the nearest tap may be nearly 10 kilometres away. The communities either share water sources with livestock, collect rainwater which may be unreliable, or have to bleach and boil what they have for safe use.

These living conditions are a violation of their constitutional rights. Section 27 of the Constitution states: “Everyone has the right to have access to … sufficient food and water” and the “state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights”.

This right is given legislative force by the Water Services Act which states:

“The main objects of this Act are to provide for … the right of access to basic water supply and the right to basic sanitation necessary to secure sufficient water and an environment not harmful to human health or well-being”.

On Tuesday, 18 November 2025, the residents – represented by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies – will appear in the Mthatha High Court against national, provincial and local authorities who have failed to fulfil their constitutional and statutory duties to ensure access to safe, sufficient water.

The state, through municipalities, must progressively ensure affordable, sustainable access to water. This is not an optional service; it is a constitutional and legislative obligation.

Yet for the communities of the Toboyi villages, these obligations remain unfulfilled. Residents can spend up to R300 or more on bleach or electricity to make water safe to drink. Those who cannot afford this amount often have no option but to risk illnesses from contaminated water. Children reportedly often fall sick with diarrhoea. Girls miss school when they menstruate and do not have access to proper water and sanitation. Women, girls and elderly residents risk harassment or violence while walking to the taps.

The burden of the state’s failure to provide safe running water falls overwhelmingly on women and girls, who shoulder the unpaid labour of securing and managing water for their households.

This is an example of what scholars Rhodante Ahlers and Magreet Zwarteveen call the “water question in feminism” – the idea that water control is deeply political, tied to systems of power that privilege.

When the government fails to provide water, it maintains these historical forms of oppression that politicians claim to want to dismantle.

The Constitution also says that “everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected”. The municipalities’ failures to provide these communities with access to water is a denial of dignity.

The upcoming hearing offers a chance for the law to assert what should already be self-evident: that the right to water is the right to life itself. The community’s courage in standing up to government institutions meant to serve them is not just a legal challenge, it is an ongoing call for justice, accountability and recognition.

Despite the application having been first filed on 19 March 2024, the municipalities has still not provided any reasons for their failures or filed any papers at court.

The Mnquma Local Municipality, the Amathole District Municipality, and the Eastern Cape government must urgently act to restore the supply of accessible, clean and reliable water to these villages.

The authors are based in the Home, Land and Rural Democracy programme at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, at Wits University.

Views expressed are not necessarily GroundUp’s.

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