The vitality of water in terms of maintaining various natural ecosystems systems, including socioeconomic development and human life, underscore a critical importance for robust management policies for safeguarding its availability and security while regulating the competing demand, especially in semi-arid countries like South Africa. This study aims to critically analyze and present water management policies and practices in South Africa, identifying areas for improvement for a robust future framework. A multispectral approach consisting of thematic, temporal and author linkage based bibliometric extraction was adopted for policy-oriented publication and a final 235 records of publications from post-apartheid to recent era (1994 to 2025) were selected for the review. The findings indicated a prevailing gap in water governance and policies and implementation failure despite existence of ambitious progressive strategies since post-1994 era. Such failures in implementation are driven by ineffective institutional fragmentation, manifested corruption, limited capacity building, and persistent infrastructural failure. A multifaceted approach of decentralized governance integrated with diversified investment in innovative water solutions such as desalinization and wastewater treatment is the need of the hour for a sustainable strategy. Additionally, improved adaptation of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and remote sensing could play a major role in shaping water resource management in future. The study highlights the need for inclusive engagement with all stakeholders to achieve equitable and sustainable water policy in South Africa. A bottom-up framework implementation consists of public grievance and 3rd party auditing system for higher transparency with increased public awareness and trust towards governmental commitment on water security.