South Africa’s biggest companies are exploring widening a partnership with the government to help resolve a water crisis that’s threatening to leave the nation’s commercial hub dry. Business for South Africa — which is already working with the government to boost energy production, fix a broken logistics system and tackle one of the world’s highest crime rates - has held talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa over helping with the issue. The offer of assistance comes as Africa’s most industrialized economy wrestles with a worsening water crisis mainly attributable to decades of underinvestment and poor maintenance. Earlier this month Rand Water, Africa’s biggest bulk water supplier, said Gauteng province, the nation’s commercial hub in which almost 16-million people live could run out of water unless consumption wasn’t immediately curbed. “There is a particular challenge in Gauteng,” said Martin Kingston, chairperson of the steering committee of the business grouping, known as B4SA, in an interview on Friday. “There is significant scope for the private sector to provide assistance with operation and maintenance and to mobilize capital for incremental investment in infrastructure.”
