Chief Albert Luthuli Local Municipality, covering Carolina and Badplaas in Mpumalanga, has been providing unsafe drinking water for at least 14 years. The Department of Water and Sanitation's Blue Drop assessment — which measures drinking water quality compliance — scored the municipality at just 19.1%, one of the worst scores in the entire country. A passing score is 95%.
In 2012, a court order was issued directing the municipality to provide safe drinking water to its residents. More than a decade later, that court order has never been complied with. The municipality's water treatment works produce water that fails basic safety standards. Residents drink water contaminated with harmful bacteria and chemicals.
The 14-year timeline is significant: it means that children born in Carolina or Badplaas after 2010 have never had access to safe drinking water from their taps. Their entire lives have been lived under a water quality failure that their municipality was ordered to fix more than a decade ago.
The court order — issued by the judiciary as a remedy for constitutional violations — has proven meaningless without enforcement. No official has been held in contempt of court. No administrator has been appointed. The order exists as a legal artefact documenting a failure that continues unchecked.