PRETORIA, Gauteng — The Department of Water and Sanitation does not possess the budget required to maintain failing municipal infrastructure, according to Director-General Dr Sean Phillips, who addressed the deepening national water and sanitation crisis during a recent media interview.
When questioned about the escalating complaints from communities facing burst pipes, sewage spills, and dry taps, Dr Phillips clarified the constitutional and financial limitations placed on the national department. He explained that Parliament does not allocate a budget to the department for municipal maintenance because it is not a national function. Instead, the financial model of the country dictates that local water and sanitation infrastructure must be funded directly from municipal revenue generated by the sale of water and sanitation charges.
The Lived Reality of Infrastructure Decay
The interview highlighted severe service delivery failures across the country, underscored by viewer testimonies. In Emfuleni, residents reported living with raw sewage in their streets for up to a decade, despite numerous attempts to contact local authorities and political parties. Dr Phillips acknowledged the severity of the situation, noting that in Emfuleni, non-revenue water exceeds 75%. This massive loss of treated water leaves the municipality with insufficient funds to perform necessary maintenance, a problem he noted has been neglected for decades.
Similar distress was echoed by residents in Madibeng within the Madibeng Municipal area, who reported having dry taps for over five weeks and being forced to purchase water from private vendors.
The human cost of this infrastructure collapse was further illustrated by a severe health crisis in Tshwane, where a water treatment plant silently distributed unchlorinated water for three weeks without public warning. This failure resulted in approximately 400 people, mostly toddlers, falling violently ill.
Constitutional Limits and Structural Reforms
Addressing the legal framework, the discussion touched upon Section 156 of the Constitution, which grants local government executive authority over water, and Section 139, which allows for national intervention when municipalities fail.
Dr Phillips conceded that the national government should have enforced revenue ring-fencing much earlier. However, he explained the complexity of a national takeover. Because the national department lacks the budget to maintain municipal assets, simply taking over wastewater treatment plants without also taking over the municipality’s entire billing and revenue collection system—which is legally restricted to the municipal council under the Municipal Finance Management Act—is not financially or legally viable.
To address these root causes, the national government is implementing structural reforms. These include legally forcing municipalities to ring-fence their water revenue and creating single-point accountability for the water and sanitation function. Furthermore, the Water Services Amendment Bill is currently before Parliament. This legislation aims to grant the national government stronger regulatory powers to enforce minimum norms and standards at the municipal level.
Interventions, Accountability, and Future Targets
While fundamental legal and constitutional changes will take time, Dr Phillips emphasized that the department is not idle. The national government has allocated grant money to address infrastructure backlogs and has partnered with Rand Water to invest in Emfuleni. A new utility company, created in conjunction with the Emfuleni municipality and backed by Rand Water’s balance sheet, is scheduled to be operational by December. This entity will be able to borrow from financial markets to fund large-scale infrastructure investments.
On the accountability front, the Department of Water and Sanitation has opened criminal cases for sewage pollution against approximately 60 municipalities nationwide. Additionally, following the unchlorinated water incident in Tshwane, a criminal case was opened against the city at the local police station. The department is also utilizing its legal powers to hold other municipalities accountable, similar to recent interventions in Tshwane.
Looking ahead, the 2026 National Water Action Plan sets a target to reduce non-revenue water wastage to around 40% by 2031. While critics noted that this still allows for significant wastage amidst rapid population growth and supply crunches, Dr Phillips maintained that the Blue Drop, Green Drop, and No Drop reports—which reveal that 74% of municipalities have wastewater treatment systems in a critical or poor state—are being used to drive these necessary, albeit complex, structural reforms.
Dr Phillips concluded by assuring the public that the department and its officials are working tirelessly to support municipalities and maximize regulatory interventions, even as the country navigates the lengthy processes required to fix a fundamentally broken municipal water system.
