BY GCWALISILE MHLABANE
MBABANE – The Kingdom of Eswatini will from 4–6 May 2026 join fellow members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Johannesburg for crucial regional talks that will determine how shared rivers across Southern Africa are protected, managed and sustained in the face of climate pressure and growing water demand.
Issued by SADC from Gaborone, the workshop comes at a time when drought cycles, rising temperatures and population growth are placing strain on the very rivers that supply homes, farms and industries in Eswatini.
For Eswatini, this meeting is about protecting lifelines. The Inkomati River, Usuthu River and Mbuluzi River do not end at the country’s borders. They flow into South Africa and Mozambique, meaning decisions taken beyond Eswatini directly affect water availability for emaSwati communities.
Eswatini will sit at the table with Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe to validate regional plans that guide how countries share water fairly, respond to drought, protect river ecosystems and mobilise funding for cross-border water programmes.
The discussions will focus on extending the Fifth Regional Strategic Action Plan on Water, updating the Regional Water Protocol, strengthening water research, developing human capacity in the sector and designing the next phase of the Regional Groundwater Programme. In simple terms, these plans determine how SADC countries avoid future water crises.
The process is supported through German–SADC cooperation and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) together with the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa.
Youth representatives from across the region will also meet to craft a Youth Engagement Strategy to ensure young people are formally included in decisions about transboundary water governance.
Resolutions from the workshop will be forwarded to the SADC Water Resources Technical Committee for consideration and adoption.
As climate change tightens its grip on Southern Africa, Eswatini’s participation sends a clear message: protecting water at home begins with cooperation beyond its borders, because shared rivers demand shared responsibility.
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