Key Points
- Nearly half of municipal wastewater systems are in a critical state, worsening health and environmental risks.
- National reform efforts are underway but are hindered by weak accountability and poor implementation.
- Urgent, coordinated action is needed to uphold the constitutional right to water and prevent sector collapse.
South Africa’s water legislative framework is, on paper, sound—rooted in the Constitution and built upon the recognition of water as a fundamental human right.
The Water Services Act 108 of 1997 defines basic water services as the prescribed minimum standard necessary for the reliable supply of sufficient and safe water to households, including those in informal settlements, to support life and hygiene.
The authority of local government to deliver water and sanitation services and the respective role of national government to support and strengthen municipalities in this mandate is also recognised. Currently, a duty is placed on municipalities, defined as water services authorities (WSAs), to ensure time efficient, affordable, economical and sustainable access to basic water and sanitation services.
Despite South Africa’s mostly robust legal framework, implementation remains a challenge. Delivering water services is far from straightforward — it requires integrated planning, institutional capacity, technical expertise, financial stability, and strong governance. Too often, these prerequisites are absent or insufficient at the municipal level.
WSAs may choose to deliver water services directly, outsource them to water services providers, or partner with other institutions. Regardless of the institutional model chosen, collaboration across municipalities, water boards, and providers is essential. Unfortunately, coordination is weak, and institutional fragmentation remains a major obstacle.
Systemic challenges and capacity failures
Critical shortcomings—including inadequate capacity, lack of technical skills, poor planning, underfunding, and unsustainable tariff structures—have severely compromised municipalities’ ability to maintain water infrastructure and deliver reliable services. These deficiencies ripple across the entire water value chain, with adverse effects on health, the environment, and socio-economic development. In this context, the role of municipalities becomes critical; their dysfunction directly undermines constitutionally enshrined rights.
Continued issues of governance, planning and accountability have led to ongoing dysfunction and systemic issues within municipalities, significantly affecting service delivery. The current financial crises within failing municipalities have led to various National Government Departments—specifically the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs—recommending an overhaul of municipal funding models and overall reform.
While it is acknowledged that ensuring access to and delivery of water supply and sanitation services is not smooth sailing, the continued dismal performance of the majority of municipalities/WSAs, leading to numerous failures and localised water crises across the country, cannot continue.
Evidence of decline and alarming trends
Despite municipalities not being underfunded and not all are failing, most municipalities have and are not maintaining their infrastructure and are not adhering to standard operating processes for drinking water treatment and wastewater treatment. The Blue-, Green- and No Drop Reports issued by the DWS in 2023 clearly showed and supported this concerning trend, showing low levels of compliance of municipal water supply systems, 39% of municipal wastewater systems being in a critical state and the national average for municipal non-revenue water increasing from 37% (2014) to 47% (2023).
A general regression in the quality-of-service provision and infrastructure condition between 2013 and 2022 is undisputable. With 105 of 144 WSAs performing dismally, 54% of the municipal wastewater systems in high or critical risk condition, R25 billion being owed to water boards and a staggering R7.16 trillion investment (real 2022 Rands) required to meet water and sanitation infrastructure needs through to 2050. These mentioned factors, together with extensive corruption, theft and vandalism within the sector as a whole—a collapse is almost a reality which we literarily cannot afford.
Institutional reforms and government initiatives
The core issue lies in chronic financial mismanagement and a lack of effective leadership. Many municipalities face a "perfect storm"—rising non-revenue water, shrinking maintenance budgets, and mounting debt. This unsustainable cycle results in dry taps, overflowing sewage, and hazardous conditions for millions of residents. The situation affects public health, the economy, and the environment.
In response, the DWS are underway with two reform processes namely the amendments to the Water Services Act and the reform of the Metropolitan Trading Services Programme. These aim to enforce single-point accountability and ensure that revenues from water sales are ring-fenced for water services. Additionally, external service delivery mechanisms have also been developed such as the approval of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
A call for leadership, investment, and accountability
But progress is being stifled. Nearly one in five South Africans still lacks access to safely managed sanitation. Sewage spills and prolonged water interruptions are becoming the norm. While policy interventions and investment opportunities do exist, the dismal performance of municipalities continues to delay meaningful change—widening both the infrastructure and funding gaps.
For urgent progress to be made, we need strong and informed leadership as well as improved governance to improve management of water services; increased water conservation and reduced water demand to try and ensure stable supply and build water resilience; and lastly, closing the financial gap by improved economic regulation of water services and to mobilise public and private sector investments.
Accountability is paramount. Those who have persistently failed to provide essential water and sanitation services must be held responsible. Effective reforms must be implemented without delay to ensure that human rights, as defined in our legislative framework, are upheld—not transgressed.
Access to safe, reliable water and sanitation is a non-negotiable human right—vital to health, dignity, and development. While no overnight solution exists, we cannot allow the continued failures of municipalities to derail progress in South Africa’s water sector. The time for bold, informed, and coordinated action is now.
#Conviction
Get your news on the go. Click here to follow the Conviction WhatsApp channel
