[AFRICA-TICAD] Co-create Innovative Solutions with Africa:
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with overseas offices across the
continent, works with African countries to pursue human security and quality growth.
In this video clip, titled Co-creative Innovative Solutions with Africa, Dr TANAKA
Akihiko, JICA President, outlines JICA’s approaches to addressing the multiple
development challenges facing Africa. Moreover, he proudly shares the solutions emerging
from collective efforts through both theory and practice.
Now, more than ever, Dr Tanaka believes that JICA’s involvement in Africa’s youth,
coupled with innovation through modern technology, is ideal for international cooperation.
Although policies are important, Dr Tanaka is particularly interested in gemba, the
site where the “real work” happens. It is rewarding to observe how Japanese experts and
volunteers engage with counterparts, and most importantly, beneficiaries.
Birthed from the People of Japan’s goodwill, the Government of Japan continues to
provide development assistance to African countries. Japan might be far from Africa, but
its solidarity is evident through technical cooperation, grant aid and loan assistance
delivered on the ground.
Japan recognises Africa’s vast potential to join other continents in addressing the
global development agenda. Therefore, Japan is making every effort to improve the lives
and livelihoods of communities and societies.
#Africa #TICAD #JICA
Dry taps and broken promises: The erosion of gender equality:
Recent water outages in Johannesburg are not just a municipal service delivery issue or infrastructural issue, as claimed but a deep systemic issue deeply rooted in the legacy of apartheid.
During apartheid, urban planning deliberately prioritised white suburbs with robust infrastructure while Black townships received minimal investment. After 1994, the democratic government inherited these inequities.
Many townships and informal settlements continue to rely on poorly maintained systems, originally designed without long-term growth in mind. The result is the devastating water crisis Johannesburg faces today.
In Melville, a middle-class suburb in Johannesburg, residents endured 24 days without running water, prompting a public briefing by Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero and Johannesburg Water managing director Ntshavheni Mukwevho.
Officials attributed the disruption to high demand and aging infrastructure, revealing an erosion of state capacity and social trust.
This signals the erosion of state capacity and social trust, where the routine failure of basic infrastructure normalises precarity and deepens inequality in post-apartheid urban life.
The National Water Act
Access to water was central to the democratic promise made in the National Water Act (NWA) of 1998.
The NWA centralises authority over water in the national government because it declares water as a public resource that should be held in trust by the state, rather than private property.
The division of water into different categories, such as public water and private water, normal flow and surplus water, which existed under the 1956 Water Act, was done away with. All water thereafter had the same status in law.
This means that the privatisation of water is prohibited and all South African citizens have equal water rights.
Moreover, the NWA gives the Minister of Water and Sanitation the power to regulate how water is allocated, used and protected. It requires users to obtain licenses for significant water use, allows the state to set limits and permits the withdrawal or suspension of rights if conditions are not met.
For example, on Thursday, 19 February 2026, the minister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina announced that additional measures have been implemented to curb Johannesburg’s water crisis, including approval of Level 2 water restrictions in high-use areas, controlled throttling of water supplies overnight and a temporary abstraction licence allowing an additional 200 million cubic metres per annum to be allocated to Rand Water.
However, in her statement, she said that this is not a long-term solution to the water supply challenges being experienced in Gauteng, as it is just a temporary measure to assist the municipal reservoir levels to recover.
As a result, Johannesburg residents continue to endure the pain of the water crisis, with the women being the most vulnerable group.
Experiences of water crisis in Johannesburg
Melville residents depended on community tankers that supplied 15 000 litres for approximately 1 600 households, which translates to roughly 50 litres per household per day. For larger families, that amount barely covers drinking, cooking and basic washing, let alone broader household needs.
At the same time, townships such as Meadowlands, Orlando East, and Pimville faced similar outages under harsher conditions that are undignified and unbearable. In many parts of Soweto, there are no community tankers stationed within easy reach.
Soweto residents depend on intermittent deliveries from Johannesburg Water. When tankers do not arrive, people travel to other areas in search of water. For families with young children, the burden is acute.
A female Meadowlands resident, Thandi Zulu, described waking each morning uncertain whether there would be water, unable to cook and wash, and beginning the workday already exhausted.
Women at the epicentre of Johannesburg’s water crisis
Women suffer more from the water outages in Johannesburg compared to their counterparts, due to the gender inequalities that remain common in many households.
Women are usually responsible for cooking, cleaning, childcare and caring for sick family members. When taps run dry, they are the ones who must queue for water and walk long distances to collect it.
The water crisis exacerbates existing gender inequalities. Despite gains in labour market participation, women remain underrepresented in management positions and face wage gaps, which makes it more difficult for them to make enough money to take care of their financial and family needs.
To tackle this issue, women must “make a plan” for survival by running small businesses such as selling vegetables, operating salons or providing street food, to sustain themselves and their families.
However, prolonged water outages disrupt these enterprises. Salons require water for washing and hair treatments; street food vendors depend on water for cooking and hygiene. Without it, women lose clients or incur extra costs, compounding financial insecurity.
These unique experiences of women during the water crisis in Johannesburg raise urgent questions about South Africa’s position in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5, which calls for gender equality that can be understood as the enjoyment of equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities for men and women, boys and girls.
SDG 5 also promotes equal access to economic resources and productive employment. Prolonged water outages in Johannesburg reduce women’s economic independence and widen income gaps
South Africa faces severe gender inequalities due to but not limited to, “plans and policies” that have not been gender responsive by the government, which means that
the government is failing to recognize the gender roles that women and men can play and how to implement policies that can directly empower women.
Moreover, beyond business, women and girls need water for washing their bodies, cleaning reusable sanitary products and maintaining basic hygiene. When water is scarce, managing menstruation becomes difficult and sometimes unsafe.
This can lead to infections, discomfort and emotional stress.
In Johannesburg, where water outages often affect informal settlements and townships, girls may miss school while women miss work during their periods because there is not enough water in homes, work and school toilets.
This undermines the government’s efforts to achieve SDG 5, which includes ensuring equal access to education and ending discrimination against women and girls.
In South Africa, there are high cases of GBV and human trafficking. Long walks to water points or crowded collection sites, particularly at night, increase vulnerability to harassment or violence against women, demonstrating that when infrastructure fails, risk increases.
Moreover, women spend a lot of hours securing water, which limits their ability to engage in community leadership, civic spaces, or political processes, which is against SDG 5, which emphasises women’s full and effective participation in decision-making.
The water crisis in Johannesburg does not create inequality from scratch. It intensifies patterns that are already embedded in the city’s social and spatial structure.
Women, already tasked with domestic labour, informal entrepreneurship and caregiving, bear the brunt of service failures.
Addressing water insecurity is therefore not merely a technical or municipal challenge but a matter of social justice and gender equality. Ensuring sustainable access to water is essential not only for health and livelihoods but also for advancing South Africa’s constitutional promise of equality and its commitment to SDG 5.
Solomon Musonza is an MA Sociology candidate at the University of Johannesburg.
Gold has been one of the loudest stories of 2026, and South African traders have felt it directly through USDZAR. With bullion up roughly 20% so far this year and some desks putting the move closer to the low 20s, the rand has found support from its strongest export narrative at the exact moment global investors are looking for real assets.
That link matters in South Africa because gold is not just a chart, it is jobs, tax receipts, and a steady flow of foreign currency through the mining complex. When gold rallies, the country’s terms of trade often look healthier, and the rand tends to trade with a little more confidence. Traders in Johannesburg know the feeling: the dollar can still be strong globally, but USDZAR can drift lower when gold is pulling in the opposite direction.
Why Gold Strength Can Pressure USDZAR Lower
Gold’s rise does not automatically strengthen the rand every day, but it changes the background tone. It improves how offshore investors think about South Africa’s export basket, and it can lift sentiment toward local assets when risk appetite is not collapsing.
The export channel traders watch
When gold prices climb, South African producers earn more dollars for the same ounces. That can support the current account story and soften demand for dollars at the margin. Reuters has repeatedly noted sessions where the rand firmed alongside a rebound in gold, a reminder that this relationship still matters in real time.
The psychological effect is just as important. A strong gold tape often brings fresh attention to South Africa’s mining counters, and when equity flows improve, the currency tends to benefit. It is not a perfect line, but it is a familiar rhythm for anyone who has watched this market for a few years.
The safe haven twist in 2026
Gold can rise for two very different reasons: growth optimism or fear. In early 2026, geopolitics and shifting rate expectations have kept safe haven demand in the conversation, even when gold pulls back sharply on dollar strength.
For rand traders, that creates a push and pull. Gold strength can support ZAR, but a sudden global dash into dollars can still lift USDZAR quickly. The trade is less about picking one driver and more about reading which one is dominant this week.
The Key USDZAR Levels South African Traders Keep Marked
USDZAR is a pair that respects zones more than exact numbers, especially when liquidity is thinner or headlines are moving fast. South African forex trading experts often watch round figures and recent swing points because that is where order flow tends to cluster.
The 16.00 zone as a sentiment line
Around 16.00 is often treated like a mood check. When USDZAR holds below it, the rand story usually feels constructive, with carry and commodities doing some work. When the pair pushes above it and stays there, traders often assume risk appetite is fading and defensive positioning is building.
This is not magic, it is behaviour. Big round numbers attract attention from corporates hedging invoices, from funds adjusting exposure, and from short term traders who want clean reference points.
The mid 15s as the support map
In a gold supportive environment, traders often focus on the mid 15 area as the space where dips might slow. If USDZAR has been trending lower and then starts to stall near prior lows, it can be a sign that the market is waiting for the next catalyst, such as US yields, SARB messaging, or a fresh move in bullion.
If gold keeps firming while the dollar is not accelerating, that is when the rand can grind stronger in a way that feels almost boring. Those are the stretches where trend followers often do best because the market is not trying to shock you every hour.
The 15.50 and 15.80 style checkpoints
Many traders treat levels like 15.50 and 15.80 as practical checkpoints rather than hard lines. They are common reference points for stop placement, for partial profit decisions, and for judging whether a move has real momentum.
What matters is how price behaves around them. A clean break with steady follow through often signals a market with conviction. A quick break that snaps back can be a warning that the move was driven by thin liquidity or one headline burst.
What Could Break the Gold Driven Rand Support
Gold can drag USDZAR down, but it does not operate in isolation. South Africa’s currency is still an emerging market unit, which means global rates and risk sentiment can override the commodity story without much warning.
Dollar strength and yields can flip the tape
If the dollar strengthens broadly and US yields rise, USDZAR can climb even while gold remains elevated. We have seen periods where geopolitical stress pushed investors into cash and boosted the dollar, while gold’s move became more volatile in the cross currents.
This is the scenario where traders get trapped by assuming the gold link is a guarantee. It is not. It is a tailwind, not a seatbelt.
SARB policy expectations still matter
Local rates remain part of the rand’s appeal. When South Africa offers attractive real yields and the SARB stays credible, the rand tends to hold up better during global wobble. SARB communications continue to highlight inflation scenarios and the path toward a neutral stance, which traders watch closely because it shapes carry demand.
If the market starts pricing aggressive cuts while global risk is deteriorating, that is when USDZAR can reverse higher even if gold is still shining.
Conclusion
Gold’s strong run in 2026 has helped keep the rand supported, and that has been a key reason USDZAR has struggled to sustain rallies during calmer stretches. South African traders are watching familiar USDZAR zones like 16.00 and the mid 15 region not because they are perfect, but because they are where sentiment often shows itself clearly. The smart approach is to treat gold as a major driver, then confirm it with the dollar trend, global yields, and SARB expectations. When those pieces align, USDZAR trends can be clean and tradable. When they conflict, the best edge is patience, smaller risk, and waiting for the market to show its hand.
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