A total of of R14 billion has been earmarked by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department for the maintenance of water infrastructure as well as new infrastructure in the 2024/25 financial year.
Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina said the R14.4bn allocation was made up of R6.8bn from the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG), R2.4bn in transfers to water boards and R5bn allocation from the Water Services Infrastructure Grant (WSIG).
Majodina responded to parliamentary questions from DA MP Stephen Moore, who enquired about plans to ensure that local and provincial governments earmarked funds for maintenance of infrastructure and new infrastructure.
She said both her department and Cogta allocate grants to municipalities for water and sanitation infrastructure in the form of the RBIG and the WSIG, as well as ensuring that the grants were used for their intended purpose.
Majodina, however, said her department did not have legislative powers to ensure that local governments earmarked their own funds for either maintenance of existing water and sanitation infrastructure or for new infrastructure.
“Water and sanitation infrastructure is not a provincial function, and provincial governments cannot be expected to allocate funds earmarked for provincial functions such as basic education or health to municipal water and sanitation.”
She explained that both the RBIG and WSIG have conditions attached to them requiring them to be used for new infrastructure projects, as well as for the refurbishment and upgrading of existing infrastructure.
“Operation and maintenance of municipal water and sanitation infrastructure is supposed to be funded by municipalities from revenues raised from the sale of water and from sanitation charges.”
Majodina noted that there was no legal requirement for municipalities to allocate revenues to the water and sanitation function. “Many municipal councils do not prioritise operation and maintenance of their water and sanitation infrastructure when they approve their municipal budgets. This problem is exacerbated by poor billing and revenue collection processes in many municipalities.”
She also said her department has established a Water Partnerships Office with the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the South African Local Government Association to provide support to municipalities to establish partnerships with the private sector. The Office was currently supporting the eThekwini, Mangaung, Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane municipalities to put in place performance-based public-private partnership contracts.
The department was also collaborating with industry, including the mining and agricultural sectors, to invest in new water infrastructure.
Cape Times