Knysna water crisis compounded by political infighting, attack on tanker

The Knysna municipal building, scene of heated exchanges at a recent council meeting. (Photo: Action SA / Wikipedia)

21 May 2025

Repairs to damaged infrastructure are under way to fix the water crisis in Knysna, but the crisis is far from over. Residents and businesses are feeling the impact while a new issue emerges: the ongoing political situation, which has allegedly led to an attack on a Gift of the Givers water truck.

Knysna’s political leadership has come under fire for its role in the ongoing water crisis, which has seen up to nine out of the municipality’s 11 wards without water at some point over the past 10 days.

Last week, Daily Maverick reported that water tankers were dispatched to the municipality after the main domestic water pump broke. This left several suburbs without water, even causing protests in far-flung areas such as Rheenendal, about 20km outside the town centre.

Read: Knysna activates Joint Operations Centre after widespread water cuts

In an update on Tuesday afternoon, the municipality said it was “pleased” to report significant improvements in the water supply systems.

“While water has been restored in several zones/wards, efforts toward full restoration remain ongoing. Water tankers have been redirected to areas where supply has not yet resumed to ensure continued access for all affected communities,” read the joint statement issued by the municipality, the Garden Route District Municipality and the Western Cape government.

Residents have been struggling in some parts of Knysna for 10 days and are starting to count the cost of the lack of clean drinking water and limited access for hygiene and household cleaning.

“Horrible” is how Concordia resident Rashieda Marais described her experience to Daily Maverick.

On Tuesday, the mother of five said Concordia residents had been without water since Saturday, 10 May. They were only informed by Monday, 12 May about what was happening.

“Financially, it put a lot of strain on me because I had to buy water, so it wasn’t nice… and not to talk about hygiene, wow, it wasn’t nice.”

She said trying to keep her five children clean and provide drinking water was distressing.

“Luckily, I am fortunate enough to afford to buy water. What about the rest of the people?”

The municipality said water had been restored to most zones. Marais said the water was on but “it’s very, very dirty and smelly even”.

Community activist Sebastian Saayman, from the Rheenendal area, told Daily Maverick that for 12 days his area did not have water, which the municipality, when asked, blamed on the brief Stage 2 load shedding.

Read more: Five key takeaways from the Knysna service delivery diagnostic report

“I mean, these people are actually lying to us, and that made us frustrated that we escalated to a protest,” he said.

According to the local Knysna-Plett Herald newspaper, residents had protested recently over the lack of water, as well as service delivery issues, such as drains not being cleared, leaving stenches in the area.

Saayman claimed political leaders made promises to residents but “it’s one of the things again – another talk, no action”.

Knysna water The Knysna municipal building where there were heated exchanges during a recent council meeting. (Photo: Action SA / Wikipedia)

Businesses affected

Marais told Daily Maverick her employer was sympathetic to her cause as they had also been affected by the water crisis.

“We could take water from my place of employment,” she said.

For other businesses, the crisis has started creeping in. According to the latest available figures, the municipality has a 24.3% unemployment rate.

On Tuesday, in a widely circulated statement, the Greater Knysna Business Chamber said the local business sector was feeling the impact of the water cuts, as the situation had started to affect economic activity and day-to-day operations.

The chamber was “deeply concerned” about the ongoing situation and was actively engaged as part of the established joint operations committee, which coordinates the crisis alongside the municipality and other partners, such as Gift of the Givers, AfriForum and the Garden Route District Municipality.

“Together, we are pooling resources and coordinating efforts to ensure that clean, safe water is delivered to affected areas as quickly and efficiently as possible,” the chamber said.

Attack on the Gift of the Givers truck

The Knysna-Plett Herald reported that during a voter registration weekend on 11 May, violence between ANC factions led to assault charges, counter-charges and political parties packing up their tables after a fight broke out.

At the same time, protests broke out over the water supply interruption in the ward.

ANC political infighting appears to have played a role in an incident on Sunday, 18 May when a Gift of the Givers water tanker, in the area to provide relief to residents, was attacked.

The ANC, which governs the municipality via a coalition with the Patriotic Alliance (PA) and a regional party, the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners (PBI), released a statement to say it was aware of an incident in which Gift of the Givers teams came under attack while delivering water to residents of Concordia.

The party’s provincial secretary, Neville Delport, said: “Some of those allegedly involved may have been supporters of the ANC.”

In Ward 8 (which includes Concordia), former ANC mayor Aubrey Tswenga resigned as councillor and a by-election is scheduled for 25 June to elect a new councillor.

The ANC’s Delport said: “If any ANC members are found to have participated in this incident or any other criminal act, they will face immediate disciplinary action – including expulsion from the party.”

Police confirmed to Daily Maverick that no formal case had been opened related to the attack. Gift of the Givers did not respond to a request for comment about the attack.

‘It’s politics’

Ralph Stander, from the Knysna United group, put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the ANC, saying: “It’s politics, there’s a by-election.”

“Gift of the Givers are doing great work all around the world, not only here, all around the world… So we must support Gift of the Givers and every other effort and organisation that is putting effort in to assist the community.”

Stander is a former ANC member and deputy mayor who now devotes his time to his business and building community bonds among the municipality’s various suburbs and wards.

“We are supporting [the relief efforts] and we are not going to allow politics to impact and affect the people's lives,” he said.

Read more: ‘When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers — and Knysna is the grass’

Stander blamed the infrastructure problems on the political leaders. After the 2021 municipal elections, the municipality was hung and a DA and Knysna Independent Movement coalition governed the municipality.

In 2022, the ANC/PA/PBI coalition took over and this cascaded into several problems, including a December 2022 situation where the municipality was forced to intervene after a sewage spill.

Earlier this year, Thando Matika (ANC) took the mayoral chain after Tswenga was booted out as mayor. He told Daily Maverick he wanted to focus on infrastructure in the short and long term.

But Stander claimed this is all in vain: “The problem is the political parties, they are blaming each other and there are a lot of politics around this thing [the water issue].”

He claimed both the ANC and DA were part of the problem since both had turns to govern the municipality.

“Now they’re all part of the problem because they didn’t budget for upgrades – they didn’t upgrade.”

In Knysna’s 2024/25 budget, former mayor Tsengwa announced that R52.8-million had been allocated to repairs and maintenance, of which R46.4-million would go to infrastructure services.

Speaking about the impact of water cuts on residents, such as the struggle to flush toilets as well as having no water to wash dishes, Stander said: “It’s a big problem for people who don’t have water, especially the poor. If you are rich, then you can buy water, but if you’re poor… I mean, you don’t have money for bread. Now you must go and find money to buy water… It can’t be right.” DM

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Businesses affected

Attack on the Gift of the Givers truck

‘It’s politics’