JOHANNESBURG - Political analyst Brutus Malada said the Bronkhorstspruit water crisis points to a serious failure of governance.
The water treatment plant ran out of chlorine while dealing with contamination linked to sewage spills upstream.
More than 400 people fell ill.
Malada said officials should have seen the crisis coming and acted sooner.
"How did they not foresee that they are going to run short of chlorine? Yeah, it says that there are no monitoring systems. There are no early warning systems or the mayor was just clueless.
"What experts are telling us that there are standard operating procedures that say at this level. That's when you must be very worried and start replenishing. Why didn't they ask for an emergency procurement to avoid the crisis that we find ourselves in? The mayor should have resigned."