Johannesburg, South Africa – A devastating house fire in Mayfair West, Johannesburg, has claimed the lives of a mother and her child, and exposed the fatal consequences of South Africa’s worsening water crisis.

Emergency services were reportedly unable to extinguish the blaze due to non-functioning fire hydrants and critically low water pressure, the result of ongoing water outages and collapsing infrastructure in the area.

“This wasn’t just a tragic fire, it was a systemic failure,” said Shumirai Zizhou, Responsive Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa. “Lack of water is not just an inconvenience. It is a life-and-death issue.”

This is the second fatal fire in Mayfair West this year. In a similar incident months ago, four toddlers died when emergency response teams were again hampered by lack of water.

Greenpeace Africa warns that these deaths are not isolated events, but a warning sign of a countrywide disaster. Millions across South Africa are living with intermittent water supply, broken sewage systems, and polluted rivers, a direct violation of their constitutional right to clean water and a safe environment.

“We are in the middle of a preventable disaster,” Zizhou said. “Every delay in fixing our water systems risks more lives lost.”

Greenpeace Africa is urgently calling for:

  • Immediate investment in repairing water infrastructure and ensuring fire hydrants are operational
  • Guaranteed access to clean, pressurised water for all communities
  • Accountability for systemic failures at all levels of government
  • Protection of rivers and catchment areas from pollution and mismanagement

“These lives should never have been lost,” Zizhou added. “Water is a lifeline, not a luxury. The time for action is now.”

Greenpeace Africa is urging civil society, the public, and decision-makers to treat South Africa’s water crisis as the national emergency it is, before more lives are lost.

ENDS

For media inquiries, please contact:

Sherie Gakii, Communications and Storytelling Manager, Greenpeace Africa, [email protected], +254702776749

Greenpeace Africa Press Desk, [email protected]