Municipal debt threatens South Africa’s water system, webinar hears - IOL

Experts and government officials discuss municipal debt and the sustainability of South Africa’s water sector during an SAHRC webinar.

Experts and government officials agree that resolving South Africa’s water crisis requires a collective, ‘whole-of-society’ approach to address systemic governance and financial challenges.

These points emerged during a webinar organised by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), titled “Municipal debt to water boards: Exploring a human rights-centric approach”.

The South African water sector faces a systemic financial crisis driven by R28 billion in municipal debt, creating tension between the financial sustainability of water boards and the constitutional right of citizens to access sufficient water.

This instability is fueled by underfunding, municipal mismanagement, and infrastructure vandalism, while non-payment threatens the collapse of vital infrastructure and service providers.

Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo said the government recognises that, alone, it cannot resolve the problem. 

“We need a whole-of-society approach working with communities who are partners around water use and sanitation, but also working with business, civil society, experts, including indigenous communities and traditional leaders,” Mahlobo said. 

“But we then have to make decisions in terms of evidence-based solutions and also be looking at issues of cooperation and collaboration rather than competition. The reforms we’re doing, they are not a panacea; they are going to take the country to the next level.” 

Moreover, Mahlobo said the government would have stabilised the situation in the next three to five years. However, the us-and-them approach is no longer going to work, he said, because they all have to make a collective effort, or else all shall perish. 

“When it comes to the price of water, it’s still not expensive in our country. We’ll regulate the entire value chain for water, from the retail price by municipalities, by the water boards, by our own ministry; the economic regulator is coming on board.” 

Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation Chairperson Leonard Basson agreed that the government cannot solve the issue alone, emphasising the need for people to become water-wise. He proposed school programmes to teach children the value of preserving water, ensuring future availability.

UMngeni-uThukela Water CEO Sandile Mkhize emphasised balancing consumer rights with the responsibility to pay for services.

“It is important to identify the weakest links in the water value chain, and strengthen those links through legislative reforms and also coming up with the protection of consumers through regulation of tariffs through a regulator, an independent regulator,” Mkhize explained. 

SAHRC Commissioner Dr Henk Boshoff argued that municipal debt to water boards is only a symptom of municipal challenges. 

“The root causes of the problem are weak revenue, governance challenges, financial mismanagement, and significant wastage taking place in municipalities in the local sphere of government. It is important, in my view, that we tackle these root causes. Otherwise, we will just continue to put a band-aid on what we’ve observed while the rot continues,” Boshoff said. 

Unisa Associate Professor Anja du Plessis highlighted the need for a fine balance between safeguarding human dignity and ensuring financial recovery.

“We need to protect essential baselines, whether by ring-fencing basic services or by establishing legal and operational floors below which service provision cannot drop,” Du Plessis said. 

On the funding model, OR Tambo District Municipality Mayor Mesuli Ngqondwana said that future success requires direct investment in local government, noting that the involvement of other governance clusters, such as security, must be considered.

National Treasury Local Analysis Chief Director Jan Hattingh highlighted the Metro Trading Services Reform, which focuses on ring-fencing revenue for trading services to generate surpluses, ultimately facilitating investment in sustainable services.