--- title: "Why water and food must be governed as one system in SA" description: "Mandela Day calls for a deeper understanding of poverty, emphasising the interdependence of water and food systems in South Africa." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "MANDELA DAY" author: "Kurt Ackermann" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/kurt-ackermann/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-07-16-why-water-and-food-must-be-governed-as-one-system-in-sa/" published: "2026-07-16T11:20:50" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 958 --- # Why water and food must be governed as one system in SA > Mandela Day calls for a deeper understanding of poverty, emphasising the interdependence of water and food systems in South Africa. By Kurt Ackermann · Published 16 July 2026, 13:20 SAST ## Key points - Mandela Day calls for a deeper understanding of poverty, emphasising the interdependence of water and food systems in SA. - Poverty manifests through food insecurity, which starts with the crucial role of healthy water systems that sustain agriculture and rural livelihoods. - Fragmented governance and separated policies on water and food are hindering efforts to build resilience and equity in addressing these critical issues. - Food Indaba 2026 seeks to bridge this gap by integrating discussions on water and food systems, urging a shift towards holistic governance for lasting solutions. ## Content Every meal begins with water. It is such an obvious truth that we rarely stop to think about it. Before food reaches our tables, before it fills supermarket shelves or market stalls, before it is harvested, transported or cooked, it depends on rivers, wetlands, aquifers, healthy catchments and the rain that sustains them. Every meal begins long before the kitchen. It begins with water. Yet we seldom think about food and water together. We debate food security as though it begins with agriculture, supply chains or the cost of groceries. We debate water security as though it is simply about dams, droughts, ageing infrastructure or restrictions. We govern them through different institutions, different policies and different conversations, despite the fact that they are part of the same living system. This separation may be one of South Africa’s greatest blind spots. Every Mandela Day, people across SA give 67 minutes of their time in service of others. We prepare meals, plant gardens, clean rivers, collect donations and support organisations working on the front lines of poverty. These acts matter. They remind us that solidarity remains one of our country’s greatest strengths. But Mandela Day should also invite us to ask a deeper question. Beyond responding to poverty, how do we begin addressing the upstream systems that produce it? What if one of our greatest opportunities to advance justice lies not only in acts of generosity, but in learning to see the connections we have overlooked? ### One interconnected system Water and food are not separate systems. They are one interconnected system, and our failure to recognise this may be one of the greatest obstacles to building a more resilient, equitable and food-secure SA. This is a conversation we can no longer afford to ignore. Poverty is often experienced through food. It appears in empty cupboards, rising grocery bills and the impossible choices millions of South Africans make every day. But these realities begin long before anyone reaches the supermarket. They begin upstream, in the condition of our rivers, wetlands, catchments, aquifers and the governance systems responsible for protecting them. When rivers are polluted, the cost of producing safe food increases. When catchments are degraded, farmers face growing uncertainty. When rainfall becomes less predictable, harvests become more vulnerable. When municipal water systems fail, households, urban farmers, informal food traders and local businesses all feel the consequences. Our biggest blind spot is believing these are separate crises. They are not. They are different expressions of the same interconnected system. We’ve already seen what happens when these connections are overlooked. Cape Town’s Day Zero crisis is often remembered as a story about drought. It was also a story about governance. Rainfall may have triggered the crisis, but it exposed something much deeper: the consequences of fragmented planning, ecological degradation, increasing urban demand, ageing infrastructure and unequal access to water. It reminded us that resilience is not built during a crisis. It is built long before one arrives. The same lesson is unfolding across SA today. Climate change is bringing longer droughts, more intense floods and increasingly unpredictable rainfall. At the same time, many of our rivers are under pressure, wetlands continue to disappear, and municipalities lose significant volumes of treated water due to leaking infrastructure. Each of these challenges affects not only our water security, but also our ability to grow, distribute and access nutritious food. Yet we continue to govern these challenges through separate institutions, policies and conversations. ### Blind spot That is the blind spot. As I recently argued in a discussion on CapeTalk, SA’s greatest water challenge is not only water scarcity, but how we think about water. We continue to separate ecosystems from cities, conservation from development, and water from food, even though none of these systems functions independently. The result is fragmented governance at precisely the moment when integrated thinking is most needed. If we are serious about reducing poverty, we must begin by recognising these connections. Healthy rivers are not only environmental assets; they are food infrastructure. Wetlands are not simply protected landscapes; they filter water, reduce flood risk and support agricultural productivity. Catchments are not distant ecological concerns; they are the foundation of every meal that reaches our tables. This is precisely why Food Indaba 2026 has chosen Water Systems and Food Systems: Rivers, Oceans, Aquifers and Rainfall (Roar) as its central theme. The conversation is not simply about conserving water or improving agriculture. It is about recognising that our water systems and food systems are inseparable. Bringing together farmers, researchers, policymakers, chefs, community organisations and citizens, Food Indaba asks a simple but urgent question: What becomes possible when we stop governing interconnected systems as though they exist in isolation? Mandela once reminded us that overcoming poverty is not an act of charity, but an act of justice. ### Justice Justice today requires more than responding to the symptoms of inequality. It requires us to recognise the upstream systems that shape opportunity, resilience and wellbeing. On Mandela Day, we should absolutely continue preparing meals, supporting food gardens, cleaning rivers and giving our time to those who need it most. These acts strengthen the social fabric that holds communities together. But perhaps we should also commit to overcoming one of our greatest blind spots, because every meal begins with water. And every just food system begins with how we choose to govern it. **DM** *Kurt Ackermann is Chief Executive Officer and a trustee of the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust. He is also a Research Fellow at the Global Risk Governance Programme at the University of Cape Town.* *This article forms part of the Food Indaba 2026 thought leadership series, exploring the ideas and conversations shaping more resilient, equitable and sustainable food systems in South Africa and beyond.*