R400bn — that is the estimated cost of fixing dilapidated municipal water and sanitation infrastructure, which disrupts the supply of clean water to communities around the country and often results in the release of sewage in public spaces. The R400bn does not include fixing the infrastructure of metros or national and regional bulk systems, so the actual total is likely to be much higher. Gauteng in particular has been plagued by water shortages, while eThekwini has suffered from infrastructure failures leading to excessive water losses and sewer leakages, which have polluted rivers, streams and beaches.
Considering the fiscal constraints that limit the government’s capacity to meet a range of national challenges, it could take years to address this problem, which is largely due to the failure by municipalities to undertake maintenance. So critical has the problem become that earlier in 2025 President Cyril Ramaphosa established a water task team under the leadership of deputy president Paul Mashatile to intervene in crisis areas throughout the country and to investigate what municipalities are doing about maintenance and the replacement of old infrastructure. Water & sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina provided the R400bn estimate in a written reply to a parliamentary question by EFF MP Paulnita Marais.
In terms of the 2023 Blue Drop and 2022 Green Drop reports, 67 out of 144 water service authorities were found to be in a critical state on average across their water supply systems and/or wastewater systems. A further 38 scored poor on average. “Therefore, a total of 105 (73%) water service authorities scored critical or poor, and these have been identified as the worst-performing municipalities in terms of their failure to deliver water services in line with the regulatory standards.
Read Full Article on Business Day
[paywall]
The decline in water and sanitation services is mainly attributed to municipalities not prioritising funding for operations and maintenance,” Majodina said. “The department estimates that the total backlog of water and sanitation infrastructure in the 105 municipalities is in the region of R400bn. This includes the investment required to restore assets to acceptable condition, refurbish old infrastructure, reduce water losses, address non-compliance and expand capacity where required.
This figure relates only to the 105 municipalities and does not include the remaining water service authorities, including metros or national and regional bulk systems.” The Green Drop and Blue Drop assessments by the department were resuscitated in 2021 to evaluate the state of all wastewater and drinking water treatment systems in the country. This includes water and sanitation infrastructure owned and operated by municipalities, government departments, water boards and privately owned treatment systems. Both reports include assessments of the condition of the infrastructure; whether the capacity of the infrastructure is sufficient to deal with the demand; whether the required maintenance is being done; whether the infrastructure is operated correctly; whether the proper treatment processes are followed; whether proper monitoring and controls are in place; and whether employees have the necessary skills and qualifications.
Mashatile said in an oral question and reply session in the National Assembly earlier in 2025 that infrastructure has to be renewed “as a matter of urgency so that we don’t have this problem of pollution going into our river systems, particularly because these rivers … supply the water that we drink in the cities.” He added that the department of water & sanitation is intervening in municipalities that are experiencing water challenges. Government is also providing infrastructure finance through dedicated grants, as well as technical support.
[/paywall]
