Thobani K

Thobani K is a photographer from Eskebheni (Inanda) with a focus on making images in his community. His work highlights people’s experience with water access, while also linking stories of people that were displaced by Inanda Dam floods in the 1980s, including his own family. His work aims to provide evidence of injustices with his camera while also resurfacing neglected voices buried in Inanda Dam . This is his visual activism. In Water Apartheid (2018–present), the archive presents images documenting Durban’s unequal water service systems, tap water for some, tanker deliveries for others. Black communities mostly rely on tankers, scrambling with containers to collect and store water. The shift from standpipes and grey tanks, introduced under Neil Macleod, to the tanker system marks a decline in infrastructure compared to urban areas with water meters and sewerage systems. Tankers bring further complications: driver strikes, contract disputes, poor roads, and rising fuel and maintenance costs. If this system is “cost-effective,” why did Minister Lindiwe Sisulu spend R26 million on just 20 new tankers? Community JoJo tanks offer temporary relief but are prone to theft and misuse, sometimes fueling informal car washes rather than essential needs. The project questions how water allocation is measured and who truly benefits. Water Apartheid serves as a photographic archive and act of visual activism, exposing the ongoing segregation in water access. Living within these affected communities, the artist asks: what is the cost of repair, and how long must Eskebheni residents endure a system of tankers that has persisted since 2013?

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