SA needs R400bn to fix a water problem hitting 107 municipalities
CAPE TOWN — South Africa needs an estimated R400 billion to repair and upgrade failing water infrastructure in its worst-affected municipalities, but a leading water expert says the country cannot afford to simply spend its way out of a crisis affecting 107 of its 144 water services authorities.
The scale of the problem was disclosed by Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina in a written parliamentary response after MK Party MP Siyabonga Mkhize asked for details about recurring water failures across the country.
The Department of Water and Sanitation said 107 municipalities are experiencing critical or recurring water supply failures, with approximately R400 billion required to repair and upgrade infrastructure in the worst-affected areas.
That figure stands in stark contrast to the money immediately available. The department said R13.7 billion has been allocated for infrastructure grants during the current financial year, with 80% directed towards the worst-performing municipalities. The funding is expected to support 70 bulk infrastructure projects and 341 water services projects.
University of Cape Town Emeritus Professor Kevin Winter told EWN that raising R400 billion to address the backlog was unaffordable and argued that the country needs to look beyond simply replacing infrastructure.
His warning points to a deeper problem confronting South Africa’s water system. Even if significantly more money becomes available, municipalities still need the technical capacity, maintenance systems and financial management required to prevent new infrastructure from deteriorating again.
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation raised a similar concern in August, warning that national government interventions could become an “unending and unsustainable cycle” if municipalities remain unable to operate and maintain infrastructure after projects are completed. The committee identified shortages of skills and capacity at municipal level as a threat to the long-term sustainability of interventions.
Government has already acknowledged that a different funding model will be required.
The National Water Action Plan released by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July calls for increased infrastructure investment, greater private-sector participation and the ring-fencing of water revenues so that money collected for water services is reinvested in maintaining water assets.
The Department of Water and Sanitation’s Water Partnerships Office is also developing more than 30 projects across 18 municipalities worth over R40 billion, including initiatives designed to reduce water losses.
Government has allocated R156 billion to water and sanitation infrastructure over the next three years, but that money covers a much broader national infrastructure programme and does not eliminate the estimated R400 billion municipal repair and upgrade requirement.
The crisis is also not necessarily one of South Africa running out of raw water.
The Integrated Vaal River System, which supplies Gauteng and surrounding economic areas, stood at 97.7% in September. Despite healthy dam levels, communities can still experience prolonged outages when ageing pipes, leaking networks, pumping failures and poorly maintained municipal infrastructure prevent stored water from reliably reaching households.
That distinction increasingly matters as residents experience restrictions and dry taps even when major reservoirs contain substantial reserves.
Three municipalities have already been subjected to national intervention under Section 63 of the Water Services Act, which allows the minister to assume responsibility when a municipality fails to perform its water services functions effectively. The intervention in Emfuleni has concluded, while interventions remain in uMkhanyakude and uThukela district municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal.
The R400 billion estimate therefore exposes more than a funding shortage. South Africa must find substantially more capital while simultaneously fixing the municipal systems responsible for maintaining the infrastructure once it has been repaired.
Without that second part, billions spent replacing pipes, pumps and treatment infrastructure risk becoming another expensive cycle of construction followed by deterioration.
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