When Nelson Mandela took office in 1994, South Africa faced an urgent crisis of basic infrastructure. Perhaps nowhere was this more acute than in access to clean, piped water. Just over half of households had water inside the home; for the rest, daily life meant long walks to communal taps, rivers, or distant wells. The early ANC administration, understanding the fundamental link between dignity and public health, made universal water access one of its headline delivery goals.

The pace of change in those years was striking. By 2004, nearly nine out of ten households, urban and rural alike, could turn on a tap at home. This transformation was visible in almost every province, from the dusty streets of Limpopo villages to the informal settlements sprawling around Johannesburg and Cape Town. For many families, especially women and girls who had carried the burden of water collection, the change meant reclaimed time for education, work, and community life.

The impact on health was equally dramatic. Clinics reported a significant drop in waterborne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea. Children who had lost days to illness or water-fetching began to show up regularly at school. New water schemes were rolled out through a partnership between national and local government, with international support leveraged into technical expertise and funding. These were not mere pilot projects but an all-out national effort, reflected both in the numbers and in community narratives.

Beyond the numbers, water delivery became a symbol of a new social contract. Households that had never interacted with the state before now became service recipients and, in many cases, paying customers for the first time. This shift helped to embed the sense that democracy would not remain an abstraction but would translate into tangible improvements in daily life. It was an early sign of the “democratic dividend” - an immediate return for ordinary South Africans on their hard-won freedom.

As living standards rose in the first decade, the ANC’s water strategy became a reference point for other emerging markets: a case study in rapid rollout under challenging conditions. The progress was not without challenges, aging infrastructure, population growth, and drought would soon test the system. Yet, even with the delivery frustrations of recent years and service outages in parts of the country, the reality is that living standards related to water remain vastly higher than the apartheid baseline.

Today, South Africa risks forgetting just how quickly conditions changed after 1994, and how deeply that initial momentum was felt. The country’s early experience stands not only as a source of pride but as a blueprint. If government, business, and community again work together with focus and ambition, the pace of progress witnessed in the first decade can be replicated and extended to a new generation.

This example illustrates how strong political will and collective action can yield rapid improvements in public health and dignity. Looking forward, revitalising that early ambition can help address today’s infrastructure challenges with renewed purpose.

Pierneef is an occasional columnist which aims to sketch the broad vistas of South Africa's domestic landscape.