Not even two weeks ago, the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) sounded the alarm over sewage polluting the Vaal River system, saying there was a real possibility that Gauteng’s most vital water resource may “very well have been irreparably damaged”. This came at a time that SA should have been celebrating the fact that an abundance of rain had gifted us full dams. Last week, the Vaal Dam was more than 100% full, but its E. coli count was still high enough to send people to hospital with gastrointestinal illnesses. This compared to some six months ago when the same dam’s levels dipped below 30%. Yet we have little to celebrate...