Proper sanitation is fundamental to human dignity. It is also one of the most enduring development challenges of our time and one of humanity’s oldest public health interventions.
It is where questions of dignity, equality, environmental protection, health, and economic opportunity intersect. It is, in many ways, the barometer of national development and a measure of our collective moral resolve.
As humanity approaches the final stretch towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and particularly SDG 6.2 on universal access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene, we must confront a sobering reality: the world is not on track.
Unless we act with speed, unity and boldness, billions will continue to live without the most basic conditions for health, dignity, and safety.
The consequences are devastating: preventable disease, gender-based exclusion, environmental degradation, unsafe living conditions, and the loss of billions in economic productivity.
But it is not all doom and gloom. There is also a story of innovation, political will, and communities demonstrating that progress is possible.
A few days ago, I had the honour of representing SA at the World Toilet Summit in New Delhi, hosted by the Government of India, Sulabh International and the World Toilet Organisation.
What I witnessed and learned in India reaffirmed a truth we must collectively embrace, and this truth is that the sanitation crisis is solvable only if we choose to solve it.
The Summit’s theme — “Sanitation: Collective Responsibility for Dignity and Planet” — could not be timelier. It is a reminder that sanitation is not only a technical matter.
It is a moral, social, environmental, and developmental imperative. Our engagements at the summit reinforced what our own national efforts reveal: That where leadership is bold and policy is backed by implementation, transformation is guaranteed.
The global sanitation landscape is marked by a troubling paradox. We know how to solve the sanitation crisis — the technologies exist, policy models are proven and the economic case is undeniable.
Yet 3.5 billion people still lack safely managed sanitation, and over 1.7 billion are subjected to open defecation - an indignity that no human being should ever endure.
By deploying well-designed non-sewered technologies [we] can dramatically accelerate the elimination of the bucket system.
— David Mahlobo, water and sanitation deputy minister
This exposes communities to preventable diseases, strips women and girls of safety and contaminates the environment. Climate change is also compounding these challenges by eroding existing systems faster than countries can build new ones. Droughts reduce water availability for flush-based systems; floods damage sewage networks and contaminate entire ecosystems with untreated waste.
At the summit, one message resonated strongly: Many countries will not meet SDG 6. This is not due to a lack of knowledge or technology, but a lack of financing, coherence, and political resolve.
But amid this grim picture stands the Indian example — a decade-long national movement that built 110 million toilets and eradicated open defecation at an unprecedented scale, driven by political will, community mobilisation and a whole-of-government approach.
I was struck by how India aligns federal government, local municipalities, civil society, and community groups behind one purpose. This is the kind of whole-of-society model the Global South must emulate. South Africa is already moving in this direction, but we can go further, faster.
The picture across Africa shows that the continent faces the world’s steepest sanitation challenge. According to WHO’s Africa Progress Report, achieving SDG 6.2 requires a 13-fold increase in the provision of basic sanitation and a three-fold acceleration to eliminate open defecation.
Most African countries have strong policies but insufficient resources to implement them. Financing gaps, weak local capacity, expanding urban informal settlements and climate shocks continue to undermine progress.
This is a concern reflected in SA’s statement at the World Toilet Summit: Most nations lack the resources to implement sanitation plans fully. Africa bears the heaviest sanitation burden, but the continent also holds enormous potential.
Waste is no longer waste. It is a new economy. Faecal sludge can be transformed into fertiliser, energy, hydrogen, industrial inputs, and agricultural products. This is not theory. It is happening now in India and other parts of the Global South. Africa must claim its place in this new economy.
SA’s story is one of deep contrasts. We have made major advances since 1994, yet stubborn inequalities persist that continue to expose millions to indignity.
Since 1994, SA has made significant strides in restoring dignity through sanitation. Our constitution guarantees every person the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being.
Through the Water Services Act and coordinated national efforts, we have expanded access dramatically. Households with access to improved sanitation have increased from 61.7% in 2002 to 83.3% in 2023. This is progress we must acknowledge.
We also launched the National Faecal Sludge Management Strategy (2023), a pioneering instrument in the continent, because 39% of South African households rely on on-site sanitation systems whose pits fill up, risking a reversal to open defecation.
Despite all the progress, we must confront the truth with honesty: South Africa is not yet on track to achieve SDG 6.2 by 2030. Approximately 2.8 million households still lack adequate sanitation. Many wastewater treatment works require rehabilitation.
Climate change, from KwaZulu-Natal floods to the Day Zero threat, is exposing the vulnerability of waterborne sanitation systems. Inequality persists across rural municipalities and informal settlements. These challenges demand accelerated implementation, stronger partnerships and new ways of thinking.
The Water Research Commission (WRC) has been a cornerstone of South Africa’s sanitation research, driving evidence-based innovation that translates scientific knowledge into practical, scalable solutions for communities.
Through extensive research programmes, pilot demonstrations, and national guidelines, the WRC has advanced cutting-edge work in faecal sludge management, non-sewered sanitation systems, decentralised wastewater treatment, water-efficient sanitation technologies, and resource recovery within the emerging sanitation circular economy.
This progress is made possible through strong, long-standing partnerships with SA’s universities. These institutions collectively ensure that new solutions are rigorously tested, context-appropriate, safe, and ready for real-world deployment by municipalities.
Importantly, SA’s sanitation innovation momentum has been reinforced by global partners such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose Reinvent the Toilet Challenge and investments in transformative sanitation technologies have catalysed new thinking on waterless, off-grid, climate-resilient systems.
The Gates Foundation’s support — including research collaborations with the WRC and South African universities — has expanded the country’s access to international expertise and global knowledge networks focused on safe, dignified, and sustainable sanitation for all.
Together, the WRC, universities and partners like the Gates Foundation are shaping a new era of sanitation innovation that aligns with SA’s ambitions for dignity, resilience and universal access.
Water-scarce countries like SA must recognise that non-sewered sanitation is not a second-class solution, but often the most viable, sustainable and forward-looking option for our context.
Far from being inferior, modern non-sewered systems are cost-effective, water-efficient, climate-resilient and capable of delivering dignified sanitation at scale, particularly where conventional sewer networks are impractical or prohibitively expensive.
In rapidly growing informal or unplanned settlements, these systems offer an immediate pathway to restoring dignity, improving public health and strengthening the safety of women and children, who are disproportionately affected by inadequate sanitation.
By deploying well-designed non-sewered technologies governments can dramatically accelerate the elimination of the bucket system, ensuring that communities receive safe, reliable sanitation without waiting years for full sewer reticulation.
This is how we deliver dignity with speed, equity and innovation, while safeguarding precious water resources for future generations.
In SA, 60% of households use waterborne sanitation, but climate change is making this model increasingly unsustainable. Floods destroy sewage infrastructure; droughts reduce flushing capacity; pollution loads overwhelm treatment plants.
We no longer have the luxury of flushing 5–9 litres of potable water with every toilet use. As a country, we must embrace water-efficient sanitation systems, non-sewered sanitation, decentralised wastewater treatment, circular economy solutions, waste-to-energy technologies and reuse of recycled water.
This is how we build resilience in the face of climate change. This is how we protect public health. This is how we build the sanitation systems of the future.
While progress is real, meaningful and in many respects accelerating, it remains insufficient. We must confront the realities honestly, celebrate the gains courageously, and commit ourselves to the next phase of action with unwavering resolve. As government, we appreciate that sanitation is not just infrastructure.
It is a matter of dignity, justice, gender equality, public health, and environmental stewardship. It affects whether girls stay in school, whether communities are safe, whether rivers run clean and whether economies grow.
Yet, sanitation is also one of the most persistent and under-addressed global development crises of our time. We must therefore act with urgency and resolve.
Many nations will miss their SDG targets, but that must not deter us. Instead, it must ignite our determination.
Achieving universal access to safe sanitation is not optional. It is a human right, a development necessity and a moral imperative. We have five years left. Let us use the remaining time boldly.
- Mahlobo is deputy minister of water and sanitation
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