Africa Day 2026 was celebrated at the University of Johannesburg on 25 May 2026 under the African Union’s designation of the year as the AU Year of Water and Sanitation, with the theme on the impact of investments in the water sector and the deliberate subtitle of Letting Beneficiaries Tell the Story. The event was co-hosted by South Africa’s Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), the AUDA-NEPAD Science, Technology and Innovation Hub, South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), the Association of Water and Sanitation Institutions of South Africa (AWSISA), and AUDA-NEPAD SANWATCE. Given that the day also marked 20 years since the AMCOW and AMCOST ministerial decision that established the AUDA-NEPAD Water Centres of Excellence in 2006, it functioned simultaneously as a commemoration of the founding of the OAU on 25 May and as a stocktake of two decades of African water work. Prof Piet Kenabatho (University of Botswana) attended in-person, while Prof Kawawa Banda attended online. Both colleagues were panelists during a Roundtable Reflections: Continental Perspectives. The event was attened by at least 50 participants.
The follow-on programme is anchored in a two-day technical training at the University of Johannerburg-PEETS Doornfontein campus on 26 and 27 May 2026, delivered through the Southern African Platform for Vocational Excellence in Water hosted at the Stellenbosch University Water Institute, with certificates to be issued. It is evident that the platform is intended to function as the implementation vehicle for the skills agenda articulated across the day.\
