1.    We, the residents of Ekangala and surrounding communities in Tshwane Region 7 — including Rethabiseng and Dark City — have gone four (4) weeks without running water. Our taps are dry. We are suffering, while sanitation collapses, homes are unsafe, and public health is at risk.
 
2.    Every household depends on water for life itself — for drinking, cooking, bathing, handwashing, brushing teeth, flushing toilets, cleaning clothes, and maintaining basic hygiene. Without it, lives are threatened, dignity is destroyed, and the fundamental human right to water and sanitation is violated. Our clothes are dirty, our toilets are unhygienic and have an unpleasant odour due to inadequate cleaning, and our ability to maintain basic hygiene is severely compromised.
 
3.    The prolonged lack of water also damages infrastructure, creating a vicious cycle of crisis. Pipes that remain dry for long periods crack, corrode, and burst under pressure when water returns. Pumps fail more frequently, and water plants are destabilized. The sewerage system collapses when insufficient water flows through, leading to blockages, contamination, and heightened risk of disease outbreaks. This mismanagement compounds the crisis, increases costs, and further violates the rights to water, health, and dignity.
 
4.    In a statement dated 31 October 2025, the City of Tshwane municipality said:
 
"The City of Tshwane has noted recent reports of an increase in laboratory-confirmed typhoid cases, specifically in Bronkhorstspruit and Hammanskraal. Furthermore, the results have not yet determined the source of the contamination. The city would like to appeal to communities to refrain from using untreated river or borehole water for domestic purposes, as a precautionary measure. Only piped municipal water that has been properly treated and tested should be used for drinking and cooking. The city urges all communities to observe hygiene protocols, which include but are not limited to washing their hands with soap and water, and also to practice hygienic and safe storage of water."
 
a)    How are residents supposed to follow this directive when the municipality is not supplying clean, running water? How can we avoid resorting to alternative water sources when taps are dry? How can we wash our hands or maintain hygiene without a reliable supply of clean, running water?

b)    Furthermore, the municipality asserts that "only piped municipal water that has been properly treated and tested" is safe.
This, however, is demonstrably false: for years, residents have been receiving unclean, brownish water — sometimes with worms — directly from municipal taps.

c)    This ongoing failure is a result of the government’s inability to ensure safe and reliable water for its citizens. It endangers lives, spreads disease, and destroys human dignity.
 
5.    Earlier this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the National Water and Sanitation Indaba and stated:
 
"We are still very much a long way from achieving clean water and sanitation for all as encapsulated in the sustainable development goal number six of the United Nations. Last year's water summit identified aging and poorly maintained infrastructure, vandalism of water infrastructure, illegal connections, organized crime in the water sector as some of the challenges facing service delivery in this sector. There are people who make it their business to go and cut water lines to create businesses for themselves so that they can cut water in trucks and tanks to our people. Now that is the criminality that has now entered the water space and this is what we must collectively talk about here and find ways of bringing that to an end — that must end, we must bring that to an end. And suddenly there are all these very important business people who drive around in fancy cars but who have water trucking businesses when water should be transported through pipes. Know what they do: they get their henchmen to go and cut the water lines and then make sure there is failure by the local authority to deliver water, leading to the alternative of relying on them to transport water because they make money out of transporting water. There is no dignity for our people to be standing alongside the street just tapping water from a truck where somebody is making a lot of money. This must end — we must bring this to an end.”
 
6.    He also emphasized urgency:
 
“Everything must be done in a hurry... And we must now act quickly, and so quickly as it should be like saving a person from a burning house.”
 
7.    We remind President Ramaphosa of his constitutional oath of office, sworn on 19 June 2024:
 
“In the presence of everyone assembled here, and in full realisation of the high calling I assume as President of the Republic of South Africa, I, Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, swear that I will be faithful to the Republic of South Africa, and will obey, observe, uphold and maintain the Constitution and all other law of the Republic; and I solemnly and sincerely promise that I will always —
•    promote all that will advance the Republic, and oppose all that may harm it;
•    protect and promote the rights of all South Africans;
•    discharge my duties with all my strength and talents to the best of my knowledge and ability and true to the dictates of my conscience;
•    do justice to all; and
•    devote myself to the well-being of the Republic and all of its people.
•    So help me God.”
 
8.    President, you yourself have said:
 
“There is no dignity for our people to be standing alongside the street just tapping water from a truck where somebody is making a lot of money. This must end — we must bring this to an end.”
 
9.    We remind you that everyone has the right to access water, everyone has the right to life, and everyone has inherent dignity that must be respected and protected. The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights.
 
This is that moment, Mr. President, where we urgently request you act quickly to resolve this crisis for the well-being of all, as you swore in your oath to: “…protect and promote the rights of all South Africans; and devote myself to the well-being of the Republic and all of its people.”
 

10.    We Demand Immediate Action to Uphold Our Rights:
 

a)    Immediate restoration of clean, safe, and reliable water to all households in Ekangala, Tshwane Region 7, and affected communities nationwide. 

b)     We demand our constitutional rights — the right to water and the right to human dignity — be protected and fulfilled

c)    A transparent, time-bound plan to repair, maintain, and upgrade local and national water and sewerage infrastructure.
 
d)    Investigation into repeated pump failures, typhoid contamination, and municipal mismanagement.
 
e)    Accountability for officials responsible for negligence, delays, and failures.
 
f)    National oversight to prevent future water crises across South Africa.

11.    We Call Upon the Following Respondents:
 

a)     President Cyril Ramaphosa — constitutional custodian of rights.
 
b) Dr Nasiphi Moya, Executive Mayor of Tshwane — responsible for municipal service delivery.
 
c)    Minister of Water and Sanitation — accountable for water infrastructure and oversight.
 
d)    South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) — tasked with enforcing human rights.

e)    Public Protector — for investigating maladministration and neglect.
 
Access to clean water is a human right, not a privilege.
 

Sign this petition to demand clean water, justice, and accountability — for all South Africans.

@cyrilramaphosa

@dr_nasperm

@publicprotectorsouthafrica

@DWS_RSA

@sahrcommission