The commission concluded its investigative inquiry into Gauteng’s worsening water crisis, uncovering a pattern of systemic neglect, deteriorating infrastructure, corruption concerns, and severe human suffering across affected municipalities.

Evidence presented during the inquiry described communities enduring prolonged water shortages, failing sanitation systems, and unreliable service delivery.

The commission heard several municipalities are spending far below the National Treasury’s recommended 8% benchmark for infrastructure maintenance, contributing to the rapid deterioration of water systems.

Rivers, tributaries, and dams across Gauteng are also being polluted by untreated sewage, accelerating environmental degradation. Commissioner Henk Boshoff said the crisis cannot be explained by natural water scarcity alone, but is largely the result of human failure.

“The water crisis is not to be attributed solely to natural scarcity, but rather to human mismanagement, infrastructure neglect, systemic corruption, amongst others,” said commissioner Henk Boshoff.

“Municipalities often bemoan inadequate funds as one of the root causes for service delivery failures, yet they are losing huge amounts of potential revenue due to high levels of water losses.”

A major concern highlighted was extreme water loss. Emfuleni municipality alone recorded losses of around 70%, a figure Boshoff described as shocking. “Municipalities simply don’t care.”

The inquiry also revealed that municipalities collectively owe Rand Water around R9bn, with Emfuleni accounting for approximately R1.9bn of that debt.

Emfuleni municipal manager April Ntuli appeared under subpoena after repeated non-responses to the commission. He confirmed severe operational challenges, including a 68% vacancy rate in the water department, water losses of up to 70%, and the R79m spent on water tankers over five years, with only 5.8% of its budget going toward maintenance below the necessary level.

Meanwhile, Rand Water has repeatedly attached Emfuleni’s bank accounts over debts exceeding R1.7bn, and the utility demanded R448m. The municipality managed to raise only R200m, prompting the attachment and leaving it unable to access funds to sustain basic services.

Rand Water has attached and released the municipality’s bank account on numerous occasions due to its debt and many defaults.

OFM News/Zenande Mpame sm

• Have a news tip to share? Phone or whatsapp the OFM News Hotline: 066 487 1427.