In March — shortly after Swapo suffered heavy losses in the November 2020 elections — the new minister of urban and rural development, Erastus Uutoni, sent a letter to all top municipal officials instructing them to start to enforcing immediate debt recovery measures by disconnecting the water supply of households that had fallen into arrears.

This move marked a complete U-turn in government policy with disastrous consequences. Herewith I offer my analysis of the current state of affairs.and want to urge you -- though we have not yet secured the resources to take the issue to court -- to continue to build support for the fight and to raise your voice against the ongoing water cuts and privatisation of public water services in order to protect public health.