The South African Friends of Israel (SAFI) calls on the South African government to place its hostile ideology aside and reconsider partnerships with Israel on water security following what experts describe as a world-first engineering achievement.
Israel has become the first country in history to replenish a natural freshwater lake using desalinated seawater, with water now being channelled into the Sea of Galilee, which is Christianity’s most significant freshwater landmark, to restore declining water levels through advanced desalination technology.
“The achievement demonstrates how investment in innovation can solve even the most complex environmental challenges and should serve as a wake-up call for South Africa, where millions of citizens continue to experience unreliable access to clean drinking water despite the country receiving significantly more annual rainfall than Israel. Their government has shown that water scarcity is not simply a function of climate, but of leadership, planning and technological innovation,” said Bafana Modise, National Spokesperson for SAFI.
“While Israel has become the first nation to restore an entire freshwater lake through desalination, thousands of South African communities continue to endure dry taps, ageing infrastructure and failing water systems, which have caused needless deaths, ongoing hardship, food insecurity and keeps young girls away from school when on their menstrual cycle.”
Israel offered assistance to Cape Town during the 2017 Day Zero drought, including desalination expertise that could have significantly strengthened the city’s long-term water resilience. Had such infrastructure projects been pursued at the time, large-scale desalination capacity could now be approaching completion, helping to reduce pressure on dams and improve water security for millions of residents.
“South Africa cannot afford to reject world-leading expertise because of political ideology,” Modise argues. “The priority must always be the wellbeing of South Africans. The work of Israeli humanitarian Sivan Ya’ari and Innovation:Africa has already delivered clean water, solar power and agricultural development to 197 communities across South Africa, impacting over 800 000 people. Israel’s latest achievement should encourage new convesrations around scientific cooperation, technology transfer and partnerships capable of addressing the water scarcity so many of our people have had to endure”.
Just last year, SAFI led a fact-finding political delegation to Israel, which included members of the Patriotic Alliance, and witnessed many of these innovations first-hand. The delegation visited Israeli desalination facilities, agri-tech projects and the team at Innovation:Africa. Delegates concluded that Israel possesses well-proven solutions that could help address many of South Africa’s most pressing infrastructure and water security challenges.
“The message from South Africans who have seen these technologies for themselves is remarkably consistent,” Modise said. “Israel is not asking South Africa to reinvent the wheel. It has already developed world-leading solutions in desalination, wastewater recycling, precision agriculture and water management that have been successfully implemented in dozens of countries. At a time when our own communities continue to struggle with failing water infrastructure, we should be asking how these partnerships can benefit South Africans.”
The replenishment of the Sea of Galilee is not only a remarkable engineering milestone: it is proof that innovation, investment and long-term planning can solve problems once considered impossible – even for South Africa.