Message from the WISA Chief Executive Officer

Colleagues, partners, and champions of water integrity across Southern Africa,

It is my distinct privilege to welcome you to the WISA 2026 Biennial Conference, convened under the visionary theme, “Rethink Amanzi – Securing Our Future.”

This is more than a gathering. It is a platform for shared truth, collective ambition, and resilient action.

We meet at a time of deep challenge and even deeper possibility. Ageing infrastructure, rising demand, climate disruption, and historical inequities call us to reflect not only on what we do—but on how and why we do it. This conference is a summons: to rethink, to reimagine, and to respond with purpose.

To all our delegates—from process controllers to professors, policy architects to plant operators—your presence affirms that transformation begins with shared knowledge and mutual respect. Your voices matter here.

A special and sincere welcome to our stakeholders, sponsors, and exhibitors—you are not on the sidelines of this movement. You are at the centre. Through your lived commitment, investment, and partnership, you help translate insight into infrastructure, passion into projects, and innovation into impact. The conversations we host, the tools we highlight, and the strategies we sharpen—none of them gain traction without your belief in what this sector can become.

We look forward to walking with you through the eight technical subthemes that reflect both the sector’s complexity and its promise:

  • Empowering people through Rethought Capacity
  • Rebuilding systems with Rethought Infrastructure
  • Financing innovation in Funding the Flow
  • Optimising every drop in Rethinking Efficiency
  • Harnessing technology in Smart Water Futures
  • Preparing for uncertainty in Climate-Resilient Water Futures
  • Strengthening trust through Rethinking Governance
  • Protecting the essence of life in Water for Life

Every technical session, exhibition stand, and plenary address is stitched with one shared thread: our moral and professional responsibility to serve every community better.

So, I invite you—expert and emerging voice alike—to lean in. Participate fully. Be heard. Ask difficult questions. Share bold ideas. And leave here more connected, more equipped, and more inspired than when you arrived.

Let us rethink Amanzi, together—so that the water we steward tells a story of justice, of dignity, and of sustainable hope.

Warm regards,
Dr. Lester Goldman
Chief Executive Officer
Water Institute of Southern Africa

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